Cryptic Infiltration
by Racingwolf
Summary: A series of strange events occurring throughout ChalkZone prompt Rudy and his friends to investigate, but this soon leads them into the middle of something much bigger, and much more sinister, than they'd ever imagined.
1. An Invitation

_(Author's Note: This is a sequel to 'Cryptic Investigation.' While the story can probably be read and understood without reading Cryptic Investigation, some plot points and places referencing the old story might be confusing. Again, these stories are not romance-related (and never will be)._

_All that said, I hope you enjoy the story!)_

* * *

**Cryptic Infiltration**

**Chapter One – An Invitation**

DayZone sunlight shone down pleasantly on the beach of the Wait N' Sea as Rudy and Penny made their way across the sand toward Snap's house. Although it was Friday and they would have plenty of time in the afternoon, they wanted to use their last recess to visit their friend.

Looking around the beach and spotting Zoners swimming, running, slamming volleyballs over nets and sun baking, Rudy was glad that everything had greatly improved since the incident a month ago with Newland and the red chalk.

It had been three weeks since the celebration they had had for the rebuilding of ChalkZone City, and although there was much more of it that was repaired, there were still sections of it that remained damaged both above and below ground. Despite that, however, life for the Zoners who lived there had more or less returned to normal, with homes as well as shops and important buildings either redrawn by Rudy and Penny or completely reconstructed. An entire month had passed since the incident with Bob Newland and the red chalk, and to everyone's great relief, neither he nor Vinnie Raton or Terry Bouffant had made any move to threaten ChalkZone again.

Rudy and Penny dedicated much of their spare time to helping the citizens repair and by now, there wasn't much they needed to do until the remainder of the tunnels in the last damaged sections of the city would be mended. The city was gradually returning to normal, and there were only a few sections where restoration had not yet begun. The city's citizens were adapting well and had managed to focus on fixing the more important vital facilities and establishments in the city with Rudy and Penny's help.

The two of them could see Snap's house in the distance where he'd moved it back using its motorized wheels along the beach the previous day. It overlooked the mass expanse of waves sloshing back and forth, and was presumably positioned in a manner that did not obscure the sunlight shining down upon the Zoners wanting to enjoy the warmth. Rudy couldn't help but admire his towering creation, happy with the additional features he had recently attached as per Snap's request.

The two broke into a run across the grainy sand as they neared the building and ran to the front door. Rudy jabbed a finger at the doorbell button and heard it, although muffled, chime inside. He didn't have to wait long before his other best friend answered the door.

"Rudy! You're here!" Snap cried happily, obviously excited for the activities they had planned for that day. He was always revved up and rearing to go wherever they decided, despite the fact that he was unfit to travel far if it was by foot. Although his wounds had been showing positive healing progress, his limp was quite prevalent and hindered much of what he could have been able to otherwise do. His right arm was still hanging in a sling, and he completely avoided using it. The gashes along his back, although they had required stitches, had healed almost completely.

Rudy was a little surprised at such an intense show of enthusiasm, and chuckled. "I'm glad you're excited. I bet you're as excited as I am to watch the duck waterskiing tournament!"

"No, it's not that," Snap began, shaking his head. "There's somethin' I gotta show ya, Bucko! Look!" Before Rudy could respond, Snap had held out a piece of paper in front of his face. Confused, he took the paper from Snap's hand, and Penny leaned over his shoulder to get a good look herself. "We've been invited to some sorta big celebration…honoring _us!_"

They could see at once that the letter looked very official, the paper itself covered with gold trimming that formed intricate gold patterns around the edges, taking up, Rudy noticed with a bit of amusement, such a large amount of the letter's space that the room left for the message was quite small.

Rudy read through the passage quickly, reading it aloud as he did so while holding the paper at an angle so that Penny could see. "Dear Rudy Tabootie, Penny Sanchez, and Snap: to cordially thank you for preventing the exposure of ChalkZone by utilizing your exceptional talent and prowess to put a formal stop to Bob Newland and his barbaric associates, the great ruler of my land, would personally like to invite you to a feast and celebration at the palace of Kadir. It will be in honor of your heroic deeds which so selflessly reflected upon the entirety of ChalkZone and strengthened its defenses against the outside world, and shall commence on this Saturday…" He paused for a second, mentioning that the designated day was tomorrow. "I, as your gracious host, hope you will attend this festivity so that you may be recognized for the true heroes that you are. Yours sincerely, King Archie." Rudy stared at the bottom of the letter, on which there was a symbol that looked like a royal crest. "Palace? A celebration?" he mused, a little perplexed. "But…all that happened a month ago. I would have thought that-"

"Ah, who cares, Rudy?" Snap cried, not seeming at all bothered by the strange timing. "You wouldn't miss a celebration, now, would you? Besides, I've always thought it'd be nice to visit that place." The excitement coating his voice and his wide grin suggested only positive things about the city, which helped to convince his friend. "They always have great celebrations throughout the entire city! From what I've seen of them on television-"

"Well," Penny began, "if all this is celebrating ChalkZone's safety, shouldn't Zoners like Biclops be invited too?"

"They probably already got their invitations," Snap deduced with a shrug.

"Well, I guess we have time tomorrow," Rudy stated looking to his friends as if raising the idea with them. When they both agreed he gave a nod. "It's settled, then! Tomorrow, we'll pay the Kingdom of Kadir a visit."

**ooo**

On Saturday morning, Rudy leaned on his palm as he looked through the window of a small airplane headed toward the kingdom, watching smears of scenery slowly roll by down below. He and his friends were seated among a small group of Zoners shaped and colored differently and of various sizes, Rudy at the window and Penny and Snap facing opposite him. Rudy had first wanted to draw his own transportation, but had quickly discarded the idea as he realized that even with a map, it would likely be difficult to find his way there in enough time to have at least a couple of hours to spend at the celebration. They'd opted to take a plane run by some of the Zoners who ran a business in ChalkZone City instead. The flight was not scheduled to be long, and therefore he was expecting to arrive soon. The trip had not been overly interesting so far, and he had spent most of it exchanging idle conversation with his friends, or admiring the passing view of the land beneath the plane.

Suddenly, they passed a group of mountains and Rudy gave a curious frown. He invited his friends over, as the window was closest to him, and they crowded around to see that the kingdom was laid out before them. It was composed of an immense number of buildings of various sizes, most of them smaller than the ones in ChalkZone City. The entire city rested in a large valley. Smooth gray mountains with sparse trees flanked three sides of the city. From above, the hundreds of buildings clustered together looked almost like a gigantic maze.

It was not long before the overhead speakers tuned on, and the captain's voice rang throughout the passenger hold. It specified that the aircraft was timetabled to land in no longer than five minutes. Snap and Penny returned to their seats and strapped themselves in, the former appearing riddled with excitement. Rudy was confident that he and Penny would enjoy the celebration as well, especially if other Zoners that they knew would be attending.

Finally the plane began to descend, and once again Rudy projected his gaze through the window to observe where they were landing. Beneath a bright blue sky, the runway lay in the middle of a very large dusty field, spanning nearly its entire length. In the distance there were groups of trees as well as some vehicles and buildings, but they were too far away to get a clear look at. Other than that, the field was fairly empty apart from the long and narrow strip of runway and a few roads and buildings.

After they departed the plane, they could see Zoners walking to and fro toward the various buildings around the place. Rudy realized that many of them could be headed toward the celebration themselves, and he and his friends walked toward a group of buildings as well, easily able to see the vast shape of the regal palace towering over the other buildings.

"Wow…" Snap breathed, clearly impressed by their surroundings as he used his crutch to keep up with his friends. A little unsure what to do at this point, the trio actively glance around the runway until a Zoner who they did not recognize approached them.

"Are you Rudy Tabootie?" he questioned, his voice round and deep.

Rudy gave a nod. "And these are my friends, Penny and—"

"Yes, yes," he continued dismissively, gesturing with both of his hands through the building. The three cast frowns to one another, but pursued the issue no further. Instead the plump guide led them through the building and to the front, where a triangular carriage was waiting for them. At the front of the carriage was a well-groomed pegasus that reared its head and shook its silky mane. Looking with interest, Rudy wondered if the vehicle was built to fly.

The three of them sat in awe as they passed by various shops, streets, and houses inhabited by all different Zoners. To Rudy's confusion, however, he couldn't see many of the ones walking or driving headed off in the direction he had seen the palace, which he knew was where the celebration was meant to take place.

After the silent ride through the many streets, a park and a lake or two along the way, they ended up on a long road leading straight to the gates of the palace. After a moment of assessing their whereabouts, he realized that this palace building was the centerpiece of the city.

As they neared the palace, they could see groups of Zoners stopping to look at them, some of them with awe as they passed. Even if they had not actually met him, it was obvious to Rudy that they knew all about his role as the Protector of ChalkZone, and obviously about the details of the Newland incident as well. Some of them tossed flowers at the passing carriage or shouted messages of encouragement, some of them earning a sheepish response from Rudy. He turned to Snap and Penny with a coy smile, almost wanting to shield himself from the bombardment of attention.

"The Zoners here sure seem happy to see us," Snap noted with a grin as he leaned back against the seat.

The carriage pulled up right in front of an enormous golden gate. It was part of an immense fence circling the palace grounds, and reached higher than Rudy's house. At the top of it was the royal crest that Rudy had noticed on the invitation, but the one carved in the gate looked much more detailed and intricate. He watched as the gates opened, swinging outwards toward them as the pegasus pulling the cart held its head up proudly. Beyond the open gateway, Rudy could now get a full view of the massive and impressively decorated garden spanning an enormous amount of space in front of the palace. There were fountains of water, arches, numerous plants, trees, and flowers the likes and numbers of which he'd never seen anywhere else in ChalkZone, and everything looked very organized and well cared for. At one end he could see part of a massive pool that looked to weave around the palace itself, and in another an enormous hedge carved into intricate patterns and adorned with brightly colored flowers. He could see that the hedge opened into what looked like the entrance to a maze, and from what he could see, a path wound through it with even more decorative plants lined along its side.

Rudy was still staring at it in awe when the driver of the carriage, a tall humanlike figure dressed in dark midnight blue clothing, stepped down and then opened his door, motioning for him to follow. Stunned at what he could see of the array of bizarre ChalkZone plant life spread out before him, Rudy slowly stepped down and followed the Zoner through the gates. Penny and Snap exchanged a quick look before climbing down and following as well.

Rudy pulled his eyes away from the scenery for a moment to face his guide. "Wait a minute," he stated, realizing suddenly that the place was empty apart from a few Zoners he realized were the gardeners tending to different plants. "If there's a celebration, where's everyone else?"

The carriage driver looked confused for a moment before the meaning of Rudy's question dawned on him. "Oh, it's not a celebration for the civilians," he explained with a chuckle. "It's just for the Great Creator and his, uh…" He turned around to see Penny and Snap a few yards behind him. "…His friends," he continued. "Now, if you want to get a look around the garden," he added, seeing the trio's fascination with the surrounding scenery, "I'm sure we could-"

"Actually," Penny interrupted, "we really only have time to stay for a few more hours. If this celebration is soon, then we-"

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"We need to be home by that time," Penny replied. "We can't just spend an entire day in ChalkZone without-"

"Penny's right," Rudy interjected, seeing that their guide looked unconvinced. "Part of keeping the secret of ChalkZone, well, secret, is making sure we aren't gone long enough for anyone in the Real World to worry about us."

"Oh, I see," said the Zoner cheerfully, suddenly seeming completely content with the answer. Penny gave Rudy a puzzled look, and he shrugged.

As the group passed close by one of the large white arches adorning the palace grounds, something suddenly stood out to Rudy. The patterns etched into the pale stone looked familiar, and as he focused them, he realized where he'd seen similar markings before, and when he made the connection, he was a bit shocked. The engravings looked a lot like the designs on the ancient ChalkZone record books he and his friends had been looking for when Newland's termite monsters attacked ChalkZone City. They had come across a few of the rare, one-of-a-kind books upon discovering the remains of what the library had once contained, and the one book they'd managed to bring back currently resided in the Chalk Mine with Biclops. The design on the arch Rudy was standing before had the same odd swirls and patterned markings. His eyes widened as he noticed the carved shape of an open book at the topmost point of the arch. This puzzled him, for he was sure the books were far older than this palace could be, and he turned to his guide in confusion.

"Wait a minute," he stammered, pointing to the arch, "what is that-"

"I thought you were in a hurry," the Zoner replied, though in a somewhat jesting way.

"Yes, but…" Rudy paused, taking a last look at the arch as they were led past it. "How did that arch end up here? Where did it come from?"

"I'm sure the king had it made for his royal garden, of course," he replied, and Rudy decided it was useless to try to pursue more answers; it was obvious that the palace worker did not know anything about the markings.

He cast a glance to his friends, who had obviously noticed the same thing he had when he'd pointed it out, to see both of them staring around at the other arches and pillars adorning the garden, but they were too far away for them to see any details of the engravings. He was continually led at a fast pace, much faster than he would have liked, his friends lagging somewhat behind due to Snap's injury, until they reached the palace doors. Craning his neck upward, Rudy could see that the doors were both tall and wide enough that Biclops could have easily walked through them. The palace itself was made of white stone and towered, in its tallest places, at least five stories high. Even as high as it looked from his point of view, he also knew that it was far longer than it was tall, and he wondered just how many rooms were in the building. The palace had various tall spires along its length and was covered in gold decorations of all shapes and sizes.

He hadn't seen many of the kingdoms in ChalkZone, and one of the ones he had seen, he recalled, hadn't been at all pleasant, as he and Snap had been dragged in against their will and then threatened to have their spines removed if they didn't manage to impress the king with a story. Rudy also remembered that, compared to this, that king's palace hadn't been nearly so grand or elaborate as this one, and he strangely felt a bit nervous about the entire thing.

He didn't have long to dwell on that, either, as the doors soon opened and he was all but pushed inside, eagerly urged to hurriedly walk through the large decorated room beyond until instructed to come to a stop. "Wait here," the strange Zoner told him, and quickly moved toward one of the many side doors.

Reaching the door after Rudy had walked through, Snap slumped against it, looking somewhat tired. "I don't see what all the hurry is," he stated with a hint of annoyance. "I'm sure the-"

"Get _off _the door," came a surprisingly angry sounding voice, one that shocked all three of them. They quickly realized that it had come from the Zoner who had been guiding them, as he stood in the doorway with his finger pointed at Snap. "Look, you're getting it dirty. Please step away."

"Hey, look," Rudy spoke up, taking a few steps toward him. "You don't need to talk to my friend like that! He was just-"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Tabootie," he responded hastily before Rudy was able to finish. "Do forgive me." He waited to see Rudy's reaction, and then stated, "I must go, but please wait as instructed." He then vanished, leaving the trio puzzled.

"What was that all about?" Penny stated, looking to the others in confusion.

"I have no idea," Snap muttered, stepping away from the door.

Trying to put the strange incident out of his mind, Rudy took a moment to examine the room. It was a large white room with gold patterns dotting the walls and arching over the doorways. A few windows let in light, but the parts of the room not near an outer wall were lit with bright chandeliers. Looking upward, he could see detailed designs on the ceiling. He paused as he heard the sound of someone approaching.

The three friends watched as the figure arrived, surrounded by around five or six guards. This Zoner was, quite obviously, the king they had been sent to see. He was a short, yet regal-looking, white tiger Zoner with three black stripes on either side of his face, as well on the top of his head. He was dressed in a very expensive looking robe and wore a crown inlaid with jewels, some of which had a strange sheen, almost a glow, to them that Rudy was sure didn't exist in any Real World stones.

As soon as he entered the room, the king appeared visibly excited and quickly ran up to greet them, a reaction Rudy hadn't been expecting after seeing how formal the letter had seemed. The tiger enthusiastically reached his paw out and shook Rudy's hand, and the boy looked a little stunned as he looked back at him.

The tiger seemed rather awed at Rudy's presence. "The Great Creator himself. It is an honor to have you a guest at the Kadir Palace. My name is King Archie."

"Uh…well, thanks," Rudy stammered, still somewhat confused as to the purpose of them being brought there. If he and his friends were the only ones being allowed into the palace, it certainly didn't seem like any sort of 'celebration.' Penny and Snap paused to glance at each other in surprise and walked to Rudy's side.

If the king noticed his uncertainty, he didn't mention it, or even seem to give it any thought. Instead, he reached toward one of the guards attending them, taking something from his hands. Smiling, he held it out to Rudy.

Looking down at it, Rudy saw that it was a platter carrying what looked to be dozens of strange and exotic ChalkZone foods, many of them things he couldn't identify. He was a bit surprised at first before realizing that there was no way these Zoners could have known what chalk food was like to those from the Real World. Looking up at the king, he shook his head. "Sorry," he stated, "humans can't eat ChalkZone food. So we-"

"Really? Oh, that's all right," the king replied cheerfully, pulling the platter away as Snap reached out to grab something, only to have his hand meet open air. "After all, there's a feast being held later, which I'm sure you read all about in my letter, and I think you're quite right to wait for that instead, Rudy."

"But I-"

"You know, I think it would be a nice idea if we took a quick tour of the castle," the tiger stated, sweeping one arm around Rudy's shoulders as he handed the platter back to its original owner. "Guards, you may leave," he said simply. He waved to the Zoners standing at attention near him, who bowed before moving back through one of the palace's many doors. The tiger then focused his attention on Rudy once again. "Now, if you'll come this way, I'll show you some of the grander rooms of the palace."

He didn't feel like there was much of any other option, and figured that it was best to be polite on account of how they had been invited there, and Rudy agreed, and was quickly led along toward one set of doors. Glancing back at his friends, who both looked a bit hesitant, he just shrugged, and they gave him a confused look before following.

They were soon brought into what looked like a ballroom. It had the same white and gold patterns as the rest of the palace, though the gold color here looked more faded. The room had vast dimensions, and Rudy wasn't sure he had ever seen one quite so big. The floor was patterned with gray and white tiles, and from the ceiling hung multiple crystal chandeliers. The ceiling was very high, depicting a number of odd patterns hewn from the same stone material as the walls. On the far end of the room, there looked to be a partial upper story with a small balcony overlooking everything else. Rudy also noticed, at certain intervals along the room, small stands upon which rested various items.

Seeing his curiosity, the king looked proud as he strode over to the one closest to them, picking up an object which looked like some sort of vase, and was obviously very old. "You see, I like to collect artifacts from ancient ChalkZone times," he explained, holding the object out to Rudy. The boy noticed a pattern of strange elephant-like creatures that appeared to be depicted playing music on its glossy surface before the king turned around, wrenching the object from his view. "I believe this was taken from…it must have been…uh…I'm not sure I remember…but no matter, there are plenty of other things I have to show you. Here, hold this for a minute." Without looking, he handed off the vase to Snap, who was forced to try and catch it with his one good arm. His attempt failed and he quickly dropped it, but luckily Penny quickly dove, catching the artifact in her hands before it could shatter on the floor.

"Shouldn't we be getting to this…celebration…pretty soon?" Penny asked, her voice tinged with irritation as she carefully set the vase back on its stand.

"Why, we've barely started the tour, Miss…uh…Rudy's friend," the king stated absentmindedly, still looking deep in thought and not seeming to care that he wasn't giving her his full attention.

"_Penny_," Rudy corrected for him with a hint of annoyance, wondering how on earth the king had managed to send a letter to Snap addressing them if he couldn't even remember their names.

"Oh yes, of course," the white tiger replied. "Well, if you're not interested in these artifacts, then-"

"Actually," Rudy interjected, "I was wondering about some of the ones outside, in the gardens. Do you know what-"

Archie simply chuckled as if Rudy had said something amusing. "Don't be silly, I'm not the palace gardener," he stated. "You'll have to ask him." Rudy sighed as they were led on, convinced the king wouldn't know much about the strange arches either anyway. Realizing he wasn't likely to get any details on the history behind them from anyone, he tried to put it out of his mind.

After being led through a few more hallways, each seeming grander than the last, they were stopped at another elaborate door leading to a room about half the size of the ballroom. This room, however, was nearly twice as high, with gold carpeted stairs leading up to a partial upper story composed of a wide walkway circling the entirety of the room. It was adorned with large pillars connecting the edges of the walkway to the ceiling, from which hung a multitude of colorful banners. Many of them looked like they could have come from faraway ChalkZone lands. Rudy could also see more doors on the higher floor, and could only begin to imagine where they all led to.

The king looked to be admiring the room himself before he turned to Rudy again. "You see, Rudy, this palace in all its fabulous glory would not still be standing today if it weren't for your heroic deed. In fact, all of ChalkZone would be in grave danger were it not for what you did. I heard all about the way that you, our Great Creator, stopped those humans' horrid creatures and prevented them from revealing the secret of our world."

Beside Penny, Snap rolled his eyes. "We helped too," he muttered, quietly enough so that only she could hear. Penny, her eyes still on the marvelous room around her, just gave a small nod.

"Actually," Rudy stated, catching the attention of both his friends and the royal tiger. "It wasn't _just_ me. As a matter of fact, I think my friends probably deserve more thanks than I do. They-"

"So, Rudy," the king stated, not even seeming like he'd even heard Rudy speak, "do you think you could possibly use your fabled _magic chalk_ to draw me a new addition to this room? It would be a wonderful part of my collection…an item drawn…by the Great Creator himself."

"I guess I could," Rudy said with a shrug, giving up on trying to explain. He looked around the room to see what could be added. The place was so full of decorations already, and he found it hard to think of anything, so he merely opted to draw a small table in one of the only empty spaces in the room's bottom floor. The tiger king watched eagerly as he did so, and when he finished, he stepped back, thinking that his creation didn't quite match the elegance of the rest of the palace's furniture.

Archie, however, seemed immensely impressed with it. "This is wonderful!" he cried. "Perfect! Now how many can say they own something drawn by Rudy Tabootie himself? You're a natural at this!" Not allowing Rudy to reply, he continued to ramble. "You know, it would be great of you if you could help me host the upcoming Cloud Cities' tournaments in a few weeks."

"The what?" Rudy replied, confused.

"You know, crowds of Zoners from all over ChalkZone, gigantic race track in the sky…" Rudy, still clueless, shook his head in response.

Snap, however, looked immediately interested. "I've heard of that!" he cried excitedly. "Saw it on TV once. That's-"

"Yes, that's nice," the king stated, not even looking in Snap's direction. "Well, Rudy, what do you think?" He folded his large paws on top of each other, his ears pricked upward excitedly as he waited for Rudy's answer.

"Uh…thanks for the offer," Rudy stated somewhat awkwardly, "but, I think we'll pass." He made sure to include 'we'll' and glanced toward his friends as he said it.

"Well, if you're sure…I still haven't told you about-"

"Um, sorry to interrupt," Penny began, and for the first time, it seemed, King Archie's attention was on her, "but, we only have a few more hours to stay in the Real World, and if you want to take part in the uh, celebrating, then we may have to cut this tour short."

The king looked surprised for a moment before he simply shrugged. "That's all right," he stated, "we'll simply skip the feast then."

Penny and Rudy exchanged confused, and exasperated, looks before they were led through a door and off to yet another hallway. After going through a series of increasingly elaborate rooms, Snap was finding it progressively more difficult to keep up a suitable pace. His crutch could only carry him so fast, and his arm was starting to ache. He was beginning to lag behind.

Through his breaths of agitation, he called, "Wait…slow down!"

The king turned around to look at him with puzzlement. "Why?" he asked, looking a bit annoyed as Snap limped toward them.

"He injured his leg," Penny explained as Snap reached them, "helping us _save ChalkZone_." She fixed the tiger with an expectant stare, but he only stared at her blankly. "We should slow down," she insisted, "or instead stop the tour so we can go to this celebration of yours."

Archie looked thoughtful for a moment before he shrugged. "We won't have to do any of that," he said cheerfully, then turned to Snap. "You can just wait here for us, and we'll come back later."

Rudy looked at the royal cat in shock, knowing from what he'd already seen of the tour that they could be gone a long time, and he didn't at all like the thought of Snap being left behind. "Look, I'm sorry," he began, annoyed on behalf of his friend, "but I really think it would be best if we stuck together. And besides, I don't think Penny and I will have time to see the entire palace before we have to get back to the Real World."

At this, the king seemed to change his tune. "Well, since you're in a hurry," he began, but to Rudy's surprise, he went on, "we could just look at a few more rooms while your friend waits? I'm sure you'll want to tell me all about how you stopped uh…what was his name? Mr. New-world? And all his_ vicious_ monsters!" He lifted his paws in a dramatic fashion, as if trying to imitate a monster, then snapped back to his normal composed state and gestured toward one of the doorways on the far end of the decorative hallway.

Suddenly Rudy's expression changed. "Of course I would," he replied, and though he could see that his friends looked a bit confused, he was determined to tell the king the _full story_, and hope he would listen enough to recognize the contributions of his friends, as well as that of the other citizens of ChalkZone, as he hadn't seemed to listen to what Penny had said at all.

Satisfied, Archie turned to lead him toward the door he'd indicated, but Penny remained where she was, alongside Snap. "I think I'll stay here too," she stated, crossing her arms and giving the tiger a faintly annoyed look.

"Sure! Sure thing," the king replied, giving her a halfhearted gesture without looking at her. Rudy turned his head and noticed Penny and Snap exchange looks of irritation before he was whisked through the large door and into another spacious hallway.

This hallway was narrower than the others Rudy had seen and was lined with red carpet, the walls themselves a dark gold color. Various paintings hung on the wall at intervals, each looking extremely unique and detailed, but the king was moving so fast that he hardly had time to glance at them as he was rushed along.

Increasing his pace, Rudy jogged alongside the tiger, who suddenly seemed to be in quite a hurry. "Well," he began, hoping the story would actually hold the Zoner's attention before he moved on to something else, "if you'd like to know what happened, I-"

"Rudy!" the king shouted, turning to him before he could get another word out. "I…I almost forgot…there's a little favor I'd like to ask you."

"Yes?" Rudy asked, confused, but hoping he'd soon get a chance to talk uninterrupted.

"Would you mind helping me out with a little project in the city today?" Archie asked. "I'm working on something that will greatly benefit the citizens here, and with your help, we could get it done much faster. It won't take much, just a few little things…think you could do it?"

A bit taken a back at the random request, Rudy took a moment to think it over. He realized that if it would help the inhabitants of Kadir, he couldn't see any reason not to help out, especially if his magic chalk would make it easier. He put on a small smile as he turned to the king. "Uh, sure?"

**ooo**

Outside of the palace, the rest of the city seemed incredibly crowded in comparison, and spaces between buildings were quite smaller than they had appeared from a distance. The three friends were being led, this time not by the king himself, but by one of his subjects, through the streets toward the area the king's project was being undertaken in. Due to the crowds, they had to make their way past several Zoners, many of which who seemed to be either in a hurry or had no problem blocking the way of other pedestrians while they stopped to look at things. Luckily, the Zoner leading them insisted that the area they were looking for wasn't far, and the three had opted to ride on a large scooter rather than walk, each of them unsure how long the journey would actually take.

They passed through the streets, going at a slow pace so as to not to run into any of the busy Zoners. Their new guide, who was a quite less cheerful Zoner who looked like some sort of oversized walking teapot who towered over the trio, had hardly spoke a word to them as they made their way toward the site. Rudy had been told that there was something new being built that would benefit all the Zoners in the city, and from what he understood, he was meant to use his magic chalk to help speed up the process in whatever way he could. He only hoped he would be able to do it before he and Penny needed to get back to the Real World. Back at the palace, he had tried to explain how Penny, Snap, Biclops, and even other Zoners had helped him to accomplish what he had and save ChalkZone from Newland's plot, but the king had hardly paid attention. Feeling a tinge of frustration, he tried to put it out of his mind.

"Here we are," the teacup Zoner stated after they'd passed a few more streets.

Turning a corner, Rudy could see that they had ended up at the start of a short, wide path between two groups of buildings that led to an enormous, although incomplete, train yard. Rudy could see the beginnings of numerous stations being set up, as well as many incomplete trains themselves and several yards of track. He could also see that the place was swarming with Zoners, working on either the trains or the small buildings nearby. What fascinated him most, however, was the sheer size of it. The train station rested on the very edge of the city and he could see that the area set out for it stretched far beyond the city limits. A lot of it was empty space, but he could only imagine how it would look when it was finished. At the front of the area, where it met with the path they were standing on, was a large metal arch with the king's crest on it. Unlike the arches they'd seen in the palace garden, however, this one was quite plain and simple.

"What do you want me to do?" Rudy asked, looking at the teapot Zoner with curiosity. "Am I supposed to draw more trains?"

"Draw more trains?" their escort replied, crossing his arms. "Nonsense. We only accept the best models here, built by Zoners themselves and not merely _erased_." Seeing Rudy's somewhat confused look, he added firmly in a voice tinged with haughtiness, "I don't believe we could accept something merely drawn, even if by the…Great Creator…himself."

"Hey!" Snap protested suddenly, centering the group's attention on him. "I'm sure Rudy could draw a better train here than-"

"So…so what do you want me to draw, then?" Rudy asked quickly, glancing at Snap worriedly and hoping that no argument was going to escalate. To his relief, Snap only remained silent and glowered at the other Zoner.

"We ask that you merely duplicate the parts we already have," the teapot replied, leading Rudy and the others toward an area with a huge stack of massive wooden boxes.

Dismounting the scooter and approaching the pile, Rudy could easily tell that the boxes were meant to carry train parts and building materials, for some Zoner had laid out various pieces on the ground before them, which he realized that he was intended to copy. They all looked rather complex, and he realized that it wouldn't quite be the easy task he had been promised. He also briefly wondered if they'd been set out before he and his friends had even arrived.

"Do you have a spare stick of magic chalk?" the teapot Zoner asked, and when Rudy nodded, he glanced to Penny. "She can help you if she wishes. I promise that your contribution will have a great effect on Zoner's lives here and will allow us to complete the project far more quickly." Though his words were intended to be nice, the trio could tell that there was no kindness in their guide's voice, and he simply seemed irritated with them.

"Okay, sure," Rudy replied, still feeling that the whole situation was odd, and not really understanding what any of what they'd been through since arriving had to do with celebrating ChalkZone's safety. However, he knew that helping the inhabitants of ChalkZone was part of his role as its protector. Even if it was something as seemingly trivial at this, he was glad to be of aid to the members of the city.

After their escort left to look at another section of the train yard, Rudy stood in front of the large group of parts, examining each one as he noticed numbers written on paper beside them, apparently indicating how much of each part he needed to draw. "I don't think we're going to be able to finish this before we have to get back," he sighed.

"I don't think we need to," Penny responded, looking at the numbers with a bit of annoyance. "We're just here to help them out a bit, aren't we?"

"I suppose so," he replied. "I think we still can get a lot done if we work together." He glanced to Penny, who nodded.

"This is ridiculous!" Snap muttered, catching both of his friends' attention. "The only reason we were brought here was so you could do work for them!"

"W-well," Rudy stammered, a bit taken aback, "I'm sure they didn't mean to…"

"Oh right, I forgot," Snap continued, casting an angry glare at the now distant figure of the teapot Zoner who had given Rudy the instructions, "the king needed to show off his palace too."

In spite of the circumstances, Rudy wasn't sure he wanted to be so quick to judge the higher-up Zoners of Kadir City, despite how they'd been treated. He was sure they all, regardless of their actions, had some degree of thankfulness for them for keeping ChalkZone safe. "Well, I know it seems that way," he admitted reluctantly, "but he could have just-"

"I'm afraid I have to agree," Penny sighed, leaning against one of the boxes as she looked at Snap. "It does seem suspicious, and odd, that they'd wait a whole month for this 'celebration.' They can't have only just heard of the Newland incident now, and King Archie didn't seem very interested in hearing about it. Snap's theory certainly seems to be correct, and while I don't mind helping them out, I do wish they had been a bit more straightforward about it."

"Well, I guess so," Rudy shrugged, realizing that it was highly likely that his friends were correct in their assumptions, as much as he'd been hoping there was another reason behind the king's actions. "But I told them I'd help, so I will, and it'll be good for everyone in the city."

"That is true," Penny said, turning to look with Rudy at the first of the large metal pieces laid out on the ground, figuring that there was certainly no harm in helping complete the train station.

Snap gave a loud sigh, turning to the entrance to the train yard. "Well, I'm going to go look around, then," he stated, knowing that there wasn't anything of interest in their current location for him to do. He was still highly annoyed with the king's apparent dishonesty, and he knew he'd feel better if he wasn't so close to something that reminded him of it. He knew his leg injury wouldn't allow him to roam far, but it was still better than waiting around in the train yard.

"All right," Rudy replied, feeling a bit sad that Snap would be gone while he worked. He also knew that Snap had been the most excited about the trip, and felt sorry that he and Penny had only been ignored and left out. He gave Snap one last glance before he stepped back to allow Penny room to draw her copy of the first part of machinery as he moved on to the next. As he did so, he couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size of the pile of wooden boxes in front of them, wondering just how massive the train yard would be once it was completed. As he looked at them, he noticed that each of the boxes bore an insignia, the image of a cute looking teddy-like bear head with a small pink bow on one ear. He thought it was a bit of an amusing design for a ChalkZone company that made train parts, and he chuckled to himself as he began to outline his drawing, paying close attention to what it was meant to look like. He could hear Snap walking away, and hoped he would be able to find something fun and entertaining in the city.

**ooo**

Wandering the city streets not far from where the train yard was, Snap could not see very much of interest, and whenever he did see something in a shop or attraction, the place was too crowded for him to get a good look. Eventually, he was fed up with it and headed into a quieter, fairly secluded alley instead. Leaning back against the wall of a dusky reddish brown building, he wished he had opted to ignore the letter he'd received in the first place, and was instead spending time with his friends doing something far more interesting back by the Wait N' Sea. There was no way he could have known, however, and at least the trains being completed faster would be good for the citizens who lived in Kadir City, but he couldn't help but still feel greatly annoyed about the whole thing.

Quickly growing bored of simply standing there, he set off in a random direction, mostly following the back alleyways to see if there was a less crowded way to any of the attractions placed throughout the city. He couldn't see much of anything, however, and the number of buildings spaced so closely together turned the back passageways into a gigantic maze. He had walked, resting his leg often, for about an hour and was beginning to wonder if he was getting lost when he heard shouting coming from the other end of the alley he was currently standing in, one that led to what appeared to be a small plaza.

At first, he chose to disregard it, realizing that the noise level meant that it was likely to be just as crowded, if not more so, than the other places he had been to, when something stopped him from turning away. The shouts in the plaza did not sound cheerful or excited; instead they sounded concerned and, for a few of them, even fearful. Curiosity getting the better of him, he crept closer until he was standing in the entranceway to the alley, peering out at a crowd of Zoners looking up at a flat TV screen set in the wall of one of the larger buildings. He thought of similar places in ChalkZone City and remarked to himself that this one was quite small in comparison. However, that didn't hold his attention long, as he was soon able to make out what the Zoner on the television was talking about.

He froze, along with several other Zoners who had been walking by and stopped to listen, as the TV blared, "There has been an attempted attack on several Zoners in different areas, including King Mumbo Jumbo in the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle." Shocked, Snap glanced around at the gathering Zoners, but they all seemed as clueless about the situation as he was. "Another Zoner working at Canyon Park was also a victim of a strange attack, and the Chalk Mine was also broken into…"

"The Chalk Mine?" Snap repeated, his eyes widening, but the Zoner on the television did not give any detailed information.

"The strange thing about these attacks is that, according to information provided by witnesses, they occurred at almost exactly the same time, leading many to believe the attacks were connected…"

Snap stopped listening and turned away, realizing that if there was anything else of importance to learn from the newscast, it would have already been said. Trying to mentally trace his path back through the alleys and too the train yard, Snap walked as quickly as he could despite his limp. He had little knowledge of what was going on, but he knew one thing, and that was that he needed to inform Rudy and Penny of what he'd heard immediately.

**ooo**

In the center of a small, but extremely clean and well decorated office sat a large Zoner who was quietly reading over several papers on her desk. The room was silent save for the soft ticking of a floral decorated clock on her wall, and she sat with one paw resting against her head, in deep concentration. The grizzly bear's silky brown fur was well groomed, not a single hair out of place, and she sported a pink bow on her left ear, the only item of clothing she wore. Every so often she would sigh happily, pause what she was doing, and look up at the many beautiful displays of flowers set up in the small office absolutely anywhere there was room for some. Bouquets of some of ChalkZone's most beautiful flowers decorated the shelves, hung from the ceiling near her wide window, and covered every spare inch of her desk. Seeing them made her feel calm and brought her stress level low, and she smiled to herself as she turned back to the papers on her desk.

After a few more minutes she paused to take a break, leaning back in her swiveling chair as she breathed in the marvelous scent all the flowers provided her. She focused on a set of twolips on the edge of her desk, the most recent addition, and then her gaze traveled to another bouquet filled with a variety of small, colorful blossoms, each forming a different angular shape. Seeing a dead leaf on the desk beside the flowerpot, her face fell and she gave a small frown, and then, taking a ruler, she carefully edged it off the desk and into the garbage bin beside it. Giving the room another look-over in case there were any others, she sighed contentedly and leaned back again.

Suddenly there was a knock on her door, startling her out of her brief relaxing daydream. "Come in!" she called, quickly composing herself before the Zoner opened the door.

Quietly, he crept inside the room, somewhat nervously, before he stood in front of the large desk. He was a shaggy looking gray canine, likely a young artist's attempt at some sort of dog or wolf, and he met the bear's soft yellow eyes with an amber gaze of his own. "Miss Serilda," he began, "I-"

"Wipe your feet," the bear stated softly.

The Zoner paused, looking a bit confused, but wanting to carry on with his message. "I've been told-"

"I said…_wipe your feet!_" Serilda snarled, smacking the ruler against the desk and making the canine jump. Afterward, he quickly stepped backward onto the mat outside the door and followed her request.

"There's been some trouble," he stated worriedly after he'd finished, "down at one of the factories, I mean. We've sorted it out, but one of the workers, was, well…very…out of line. He attacked one of the supervisors…"

All traces of her peaceful look gone, the bear leaned forward in her chair. "Who?" she asked, though she sounded far more annoyed than concerned.

"I…I don't know his name," the wolflike Zoner stammered. "The one who initiated the attack, I mean. I assure you the supervisor in question wasn't hurt, but this worker, he…well, er…should I bring him here for you to assign punishment?"

"Punish him yourself," the bear muttered casually, suddenly seeming rather bored with the exchange. "You know how I hate having to clean blood out of my claws."

"Yes, yes, I'll do that," the Zoner replied, quickly edging out the door and closing it behind him.

Shaking her head, the bear slumped back in her chair again, pausing to examine her claws, each of which was at least three inches long, to ensure that they were all still spotless and polished to her standards; just the thought of having to get yet another Zoner's blood on them made her want to scrub them clean. It was often a necessity, of course, but right now she was simply in too much of a good mood.

"I told those lousy supervisors they could punish whom they like," she muttered to herself, thumping her paw lightly against the desk. "Why do they have to bother me with…"

She paused, her thoughts interrupted, as the phone on her desk began to ring. Gently moving aside another potted plant, she reached for the phone and picked it up. This was out of the ordinary, she knew, if a call was going straight to her office, and realized that one of the supervisors in the factory must have something else to tell her. "What is it?" she said in a snappy voice, her patience beginning to run a bit thin.

However, the voice on the other end was not one she recognized. This was certainly not one of her supervisors or even anyone she had ever heard working in her factories; this was a strange voice she thought she would have remembered if she had ever heard it previously. It was a low, smooth sounding voice that had an odd sort of tone to it.

"Miss…Serilda, is it? Head of Grizzly Enterprises?"

"Who are you?" the bear growled, already angry at the waste of her precious time and finding herself wishing the Zoner on the other end was within striking distance. "How did you get this number?"

"Never mind that," the voice continued, "I would like to-"

"Where did you get the damn _number_?" she shouted, causing the voice on the other end to abruptly halt.

"I'm very sorry," the voice apologized. "One of your workers' supervisors gave it to me. Shall I give you their name?"

"_Yes…_" the bear hissed. After the name was said, she quickly wrote it down on a piece of paper, planning to deal with the offender later. "Now," she stated, trying to keep her voice calm in case the stranger was a potential customer who had somehow been misdirected to her line, "I can direct you to where you can make an order with us, if you wish. If not, it would greatly please me if you would _get off the phone_."

"I'm sorry," the voice apologized again, "I would like it much better if I spoke with you." Before Serilda could object, he added, "I could offer you an immense sum of money for what I ask."

Serilda paused. "I'm listening," she stated. As she waited for a reply on the other end, her gaze roamed to the large, wide window behind her desk. Through it, she could see the outlines of the factories she resided over, standing out against the tan dusty ground of the desert and spewing smoke into the DayZone sky. Beyond them were the hills and mountains of the park she so despised. The desert mountain wilderness was a huge tourist attraction for Zoners who wanted a little adventure, and it was far too close to _her_ territory for her liking. There had been several instances where she'd had to prevent lost Zoners or even the occasional park ranger from getting too close to the factory grounds, but luckily they had generally managed to stay away after her repeated insistence that her land was private property and not to be trespassed in. She had even had an electric fence set up around the perimeters. Recalling her struggles to keep what went on in her facilities classified, she heaved an irritated sigh. "So," she muttered into the phone, her voice regaining its cheerful attitude, "what is it that you wanted from me?"

The voice on the other end came through clear. "I wanted to ask you about a machine on your property."

Instantly, Serilda's calm demeanor vanished completely, and her yellow eyes narrowed suspiciously as she muttered into the phone.

"_Which_ machine?"


	2. Trail of Signs

**Cryptic Infiltration**

**Chapter Two – Trail of Signs**

Rudy had realized that he and Penny were running out of time before they had to be back home in the Real World. It was close to dinnertime, and he knew their parents would be soon to check on them, but he tried to put the thought out of his mind for the moment as he approached the looming entrance to the Magic Chalk Mine. It had taken them longer than he'd hoped to get back from the kingdom, and he knew they only had around a half an hour, at most, before they would for sure need to return to the Real World.

He paused to look up at the mountain as he approached, noting with a small bit of satisfaction, despite the pressing situation, that it looked good as new. Even though it had been a month since it was damaged, he could still picture the torn open entrance he'd discovered after Bob Newland and his accomplices had broken into the mine nearly every time he arrived there. He shivered at the thought of someone else from the Real World getting their hands on the chalk again, and he could only hope that whatever had infiltrated the mine was not another creation of Newland's, or Bouffant and Raton, for that matter.

"Biclops?" Rudy called as he walked toward the entrance with Penny, Snap forced to follow at a slower pace. Hearing no immediate reply, Rudy hoped that Biclops hadn't come to any harm. As he entered the main cavern, he glanced around it warily, not sure what to expect, but nothing looked damaged or out of place. He knew that after the attack was reported, there had to have been other Zoners investigating the incident, and he relaxed a little, telling himself that if Biclops had been harmed in any way, he would already be receiving help. He still felt a little nervous as he waited to see if the mine's guardian would appear. The thought that the incident could be another ploy to bring magic chalk to someone in the Real World plagued his mind again, and though he certainly couldn't imagine what a random Zoner would want with the Chalk Mine, he really hoped a random Zoner was all it was.

He halted in the center of the cavern, Penny and Snap coming to a halt behind him, and immediately peered around for Biclops, feeling that the quiet and stillness of the place was somewhat eerie, considering the situation. However, a few moments later, they heard large footsteps, and Biclops appeared from the back tunnels, and Rudy breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Rudy?" the giant asked, looking a bit surprised to see him there. "This isn't a good time, but if you need magic chalk, you can-"

"What happened?" Rudy asked, realizing that Biclops probably had no idea they'd already learned about the Chalk Mine being invaded. "We heard that someone broke into the mine," he quickly explained in order to banish any confusion. Once again, he briefly thought back to Terry Bouffant, Vinnie Raton, and Bob Newland, and he felt a rush of terror as he imagined that they had somehow managed to find a way back into ChalkZone and taken magic chalk, but quickly decided that was irrational, as he knew they wouldn't dare to do such a thing while he still had footage of them breaking into his house.

To his surprise, Biclops remained completely calm after he realized what Rudy's concern was. "Do not worry," he replied, "no magic chalk was taken or damaged."

Rudy's momentary panic left him, but he still felt on edge. "What _did_ happen, then?" he asked. "Did whoever break in the mine attack you?" He recalled what Snap had told him about the newscast reporting attacks on Zoners, and was glad that Biclops didn't seem at all injured.

The giant shook his head. "I was not in the mine at the time this Zoner entered it," he replied. "In fact, I was only gone for a short time before…they, whoever they were…decided to infiltrate the mine."

"What exactly did they take, then?" Penny asked, her voice sounding nervous.

"Nothing," Biclops replied, earning him confused glances from the trio.

"What?" Rudy responded, confused. "You mean, they just…came in here and looked around?" He suddenly wondered if the culprit was no more than a newly-erased Zoner who'd gotten lost, and felt even more silly for jumping to conclusions.

"They _were _looking for something," Biclops continued, his tone a bit more serious. Instead of elaborating more, he indicated one of the tunnels in the back of the mind and beckoned them to follow.

Rudy and Penny exchanged confused glances, but Snap immediately recognized the place as the one leading to Biclops's living quarters. He had been there during the one and only time Biclops had asked him to guard the mine while the giant had been participating in a race. "Did they want somethin' of yours?" he asked, giving the guardian of the mine a confused frown.

"I'm not sure," Biclops replied, but said nothing more as he once again indicated that they follow him into the tunnel.

They were led into a room none of them had been in before, and immediately they realized what Biclops had meant. The cavern was strewn with debris and toppled furniture. All of the belongings Biclops had kept in the room were now scattered over the floor, many of them broken or torn. Rudy could see a few large books that had been carelessly tossed aside, and as his gaze traveled around the room, he also noticed a smaller one. Recognizing it instantly, he quickly ran over and picked it up, Snap and Penny reaching his side as they noticed it as well. It was the book they'd brought back from their journey a month prior to find what remained of the ancient ChalkZone library's hidden stash of books. It was a rare and valuable object, but it had been carelessly tossed aside like everything else. Rudy watched Penny flip through the pages, seeming like she was checking if any had been taken out, but everything was intact and she quickly concluded that, whatever the Zoner who had broken in the mine had been after, this book wasn't it.

Setting it down against the wall, as she couldn't reach up to the shelves along the wall, Penny turned to Biclops. "How long were you gone when this happened?" she asked, watching as Rudy and Snap continued to throw confused looks around the room.

"It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes," Biclops replied, straightening a chair that had toppled over. As he did so, it suddenly occurred to Penny that whoever had invaded Biclops' home had to be someone very strong, considering they were able to leave the furniture toppled over, or, in at least one case, looking like it had been thrown against the wall.

"I'll help you fix all this if you want," Rudy offered, holding up his magic chalk.

Biclops shook his head. "I don't think there's anything too badly damaged," he replied, "and the intruder targeted only this room. There's nothing disturbed anywhere else."

"You don't think this intruder could have navigated into the deeper tunnels?" Penny asked worriedly.

"I don't think so," he replied. "There's no sign they went that way."

Looking around the floor, something caught Rudy's eye, and he walked over toward a massive toppled bookshelf, reaching down to pick up a tiny object that stood out starkly against everything else. It was a small fragment of lime green chalk, the last, as far as they knew, of its type left in the mine, as the rest had been destroyed by Newland's red chalk dragon. He realized that although he would have thought it to be the most valuable thing in the room, to a Zoner it was useless. Realizing that such a small thing could easily get lost amid the wreckage, he hurried over to Biclops and carefully handed it to him.

"So are you _sure_ they didn't take anything?" Penny was saying, not having found anything else of immediate interest in the room.

"No, everything's here," Biclops replied, still sounding confused about the situation himself as he looked at the shelves, where Rudy realized most of his books had already been replaced after the incident.

"Well that doesn't make any sense," Snap muttered.

Rudy couldn't really imagine why the intruder had snuck into the mine if they weren't going to take anything, and he thought back to his theory of it being a newly-erased drawing. However, that didn't explain why it trashed the room, and that one room in particular. If it was looking for Biclops, it wouldn't have had to go through the trouble; it would have known Biclops would return to his living quarters in the mine. He began to think that, whatever it was, it must have been a separate event to the strange attacks reported elsewhere. As his thoughts turned to those incidents, he promised himself that the next day, he and his friends would try to find out more about what happened, or even simply lend a hand to the Zoners in those areas if he could. Considering that tomorrow was a Sunday, he knew that he and Penny would have a lot of free time.

Though they stayed as long as time allowed, in the end, they could find no trace of who or what the Zoner who had caused the damage could be, but Biclops promised them that he would be on high alert from then on. He'd also told them that the police from ChalkZone City had investigated the incident already and would be on the lookout for the culprit. Knowing there was no more they could do about the matter, the three friends left the mine, heading back to the small plane Rudy had drawn before heading toward Snap's house, Rudy and Penny planning to hurry to Rudy's portal immediately after.

"Tomorrow we'll go to those other places and try to get to the bottom of this," Rudy stated after they'd landed in front of the towering building.

"I'll try an' find out what I can, Bucko!" Snap stated, knowing that even while Rudy and Penny were gone, he could still make himself useful by finding out anything the Zoners in ChalkZone City might have known or heard about the three incidents, or anything else strange going on.

"Good idea," Rudy stated as he and Penny headed back to the plane. He knew they were cutting it close time wise, so it was important to get back to the Real World immediately. Though the thought of the Chalk Mine being broken into for any reason had shaken him a bit, he was already starting to feel more confident. "We'll figure this out!"

**ooo**

The following day, the three were headed into the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. Though Snap had failed to find out any more important details about the recent incidents, Rudy was determined to help out if he could, as well as find out anything else. Surely, he thought, the jungle Zoners could tell him_ something_.

The lights of Rudy's small jeep cut through the darkness of the jungle where tall foliage and a thick canopy above them blocked out most of the light. The uneven terrain was at many times difficult to drive over, and the three were almost constantly jarred as the car frequently encountered rocks, roots, or thick undergrowth. Even though it was a Sunday, Rudy was a bit worried about the slowness of their journey, wanting to make sure he had enough time to visit the park where the other incident had taken place before they had to go back. He still wasn't certain there wasn't something more sinister going on, and it was possible the Zoners there would need his help.

Even though Rudy had drawn the car to be small, they ended up constantly having to backtrack to find wider trails when they stumbled upon areas where the trees grew too close. On other occasions the road was simply too uneven to drive over and they would have to turn back and find a smoother path. Rudy realized that it would be much easier if they could simply walk to King Mumbo Jumbo's new temple and take a shortcut straight through the jungle, but he hadn't been able to think of a good way to help Snap properly while they traveled, so he had opted for the vehicle. He contemplated drawing it limbs to move over the ground with instead of wheels, although he knew that wouldn't solve the issue of the car being too wide for the paths, but they soon came across a wide path that looked like it had been made by some large jungle animal. They decided to simply follow it for the time being, knowing that it was headed in at least roughly the right direction.

"I don't get it," Snap mused as he peered over the side of the vehicle, "What would someone attack King Mumbo Jumbo for? Or that other Zoner? Especially if they didn't do anythin' else. Seems like they just vanished an' no one knows where they went."

"I have no idea," Rudy replied, peering ahead into the gloom. He hoped they were going in the right direction to King Mumbo Jumbo's new residence; his memory of the place the tortoise now lived was fuzzy. "I guess all we can do is try to find out more, and whether these attacks are connected."

"I don't know what the likelihood of that is," Penny began. "They occurred in two vastly different areas, plus there was the infiltration of the Chalk Mine. If it's true they all occurred at the same time, it is strange, though until we have more information, I'm not sure we should assume they were closely related unless the evidence points that way."

"Well, from what that news report said, they were all reported to have happened at the same time," said Rudy. "That is a little weird, but the Zoners who saw these things happen could have made a mistake. I just want to make sure nothing's wrong. Something doesn't feel right about this."

"You got that right," said Snap. "If someone's after somethin' in the Chalk Mine, you _know_ there's trouble."

"I know," said Penny, "Perhaps we should have continued to search for information on that matter."

"We will," replied Rudy, "as soon as we make sure that whatever happened in these other places isn't connected to it. And remember, the Zoners might need our help too."

"I suppose so," said Penny, "but I'm sure king Mumbo Jumbo has plenty of Zoners to help if anything goes wrong again. I think the Chalk Mine incident is what most needs further investigation."

"I know, but I still want to help," said Rudy. "We'll get to the bottom of what happened to the chalk mine as soon as we can figure out what happened in the other places, and make sure everyone's okay."

"You're right," Penny replied, turning to look worriedly out into the jungle. "I just hope no one was hurt. If there's-"

She broke off, for suddenly their vehicle had come to a halt, and as Rudy peered more closely at the ground ahead, it was easy to see why. He'd driven into a deep pit of mud while he'd been distracted, the thick foliage making it hard to see. Frustrated, he backed up, and after a few moments when the car refused to move, and he wondered if they were stuck, the machine slowly edged back out. He sighed as he shook his head. "Guess we're not going this way."

Snap gave a disappointed sigh. "Why don't you two carry on by foot then? I'll just…stay here, I guess."

Rudy could hear the reluctance in Snap's voice, and he knew his friend wanted to help, but with his injured leg, Snap wasn't bound to get far trying to walk through the jungle. However, he knew that it was likely a better idea if he and Penny took a more direct route, and had to admit that Snap was right. They needed to save time if they wanted to be able to investigate the incident in Canyon Park as well. "Well, okay…" he replied, not liking the thought of leaving his friend behind, as he opened his door and lowered himself to the ground.

He paused as they heard some sort of commotion up ahead. The three friends froze, the idea that whoever the attacker was or were was still around suddenly dawning on them. As the noise grew louder, Rudy grabbed his magic chalk and readied himself to draw a defense before something massive crashed through the undergrowth a short ways in front of them.

Upon realizing what it was, Rudy relaxed, but confusion crept across his face. The large animal in front of him was a massive brown three-headed dog, one he recognized easily as a creation of Vinnie Raton and Terry Bouffant. He was no threat to the trio, as he had become loyal to Rudy after he and his friends had stopped Newland's dragon in the Chalk Mine. Cerberus had since become part of ChalkZone City's police force. Rudy was unsure what the dog could be doing there, and a moment later he noticed a few different Zoners, all in police uniforms, stepping into the path Rudy and his friends had been following, but beyond the muddied spot.

As Rudy and the others looked to them in surprise, Cerberus, who had all three of his noses to the ground as if he were tracking something, lifted one of his heads and wagged his tail at the sight of them. The other two heads looked up as well and made a few sounds of excitement. The canine clearly wanted to run over to them, but obediently stayed put near the officers. Almost immediately one of the police Zoners called to him and he lowered his head, focusing again on the scent he was tracking. None of the officers seemed at all focused on Rudy and his friends.

"What are you doing here?" Rudy asked, curious about why police officers from the city were investigating something that happened in the jungle.

"We're helping to track the Zoner who tried to attack King Mumbo Jumbo," one of them, a German shepherd with a police hat clearly indicating him as an officer, stated clearly. "Please stay out of our way."

Rudy knew that if the police from ChalkZone City were getting involved, there had to be a good reason, but he still didn't clearly understand why the inhabitants of the jungle couldn't handle it themselves, if no one had been harmed, as far as Snap or anyone in ChalkZone City knew. "Wait a minute," he began, clearly confused. "What's going on? Is there something-"

"Yesterday at approximately six fifteen PM, _this_ Zoner attempted an attack upon King Mumbo Jumbo," another officer replied, skirting the mud pool and walking toward Rudy's vehicle as he held up a sheet of paper that Rudy realized was a sketch of the attacker.

It was a Zoner that Rudy and his friends had certainly never seen before. It was a cube shaped robot with four clawed appendages that, according to the smaller sketches beneath the main one, the robot could use to move on all fours or choose to stand on two legs and use the others as hands. The officer, a stick figure like drawing, though one with more detail to his design, explained, "This Zoner is an escaped criminal from three years back. He attempted to steal a valuable artifact, and in the process, damaged it, and severely injured the officer who tried to apprehend him. The criminal spotted in this recent attack fits his description perfectly, and even mentioned his own name. This concerns us as well as the inhabitants of the jungle."

Rudy just stared in confusion as the police officer then turned to look at his companions, who seemed to have found a trail. As the Zoner joined them, Rudy cast confused glances to his friends. He wasn't sure what to think.

"This doesn't add up," Penny muttered as she watched the police having a quick discussion amongst themselves. "Why would a criminal wanted for something he'd done years ago suddenly attack a well-renowned Zoner unprovoked for? You'd think he would realize that was a sure way to get arrested, and he certainly wasn't successful in his attempted attack, so it must have been poorly thought out. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Who knows what goes through the heads of Zoners like that," Snap muttered, shaking his head.

"It is weird," Rudy replied, "but at least the police know exactly who they're looking for." He watched as Cerberus and the police forest crashed off into the jungle, Cerberus looking excited, as if he'd found a trail. He glanced toward the path the large three headed dog had made through the jungle, and realized that although it might be a bit difficult, he could maneuver the vehicle through it. And it would lead them straight to the new temple; that would have been where Cerberus would have first picked up the trail. He smiled; though it seemed like the police were doing a good job on their own, he was still glad he could at least check up on the Zoners there.

They carried on through their path in the jungle, sometimes having to duck low to avoid overhanging branches. However, Rudy was sure he was going in the right direction, now that they no longer had to follow the confusing switchback trails they had been forced to take before. He considered drawing rockets on his shoes and using them to see over the canopy to make sure the new path led where he thought it did, but before he acted on that plan, he noticed the trees thinning out up ahead and knew that they were likely in the right place, and if not, they would soon see.

They headed into the clearing, which was about as wide as Rudy and Penny's schoolyard and fringed by many palm-like trees and tropical looking plants, a large cluster of which created an overhang that shaded a large part of the area. It was here that King Mumbo Jumbo was building his new temple, and it was clear that they were not the only ones there.

Several Zoners were gathered near the entrance to the new temple, which was made of tan colored stone and built into the side of a large hill and looked somewhat small and plain compared to the old one, where Rudy knew the red bats were still sealed. The Zoners gathered there were either conversing with each other or examining areas around the temple entrance that Rudy realized must contain traces of the culprit's presence or give them a clue about the situation. No one paid them much of any attention as they stepped down from the vehicle and looked around.

Leaving the car on the path, Rudy and his friends headed into the small crowd, passing a group of Lollipopians who seemed to be quite agitated, but did not acknowledge them. All the other Zoners in the area were also jungle inhabitants, each of them looking confused, worried, angry, or a mixture of all three.

As Rudy was trying to figure out who to ask, he suddenly caught sight of King Mumbo Jumbo himself by the wide entrance to the new temple, talking with a few of the other jungle residents, and he, Penny, and Snap quickly headed over to him.

"King Mumbo Jumbo?" Rudy called as he came to a halt, Penny and Snap right beside him. "What happened? Did whoever attacked you hurt you? Was anybody else injured?" He glanced quickly around, interrupting King Mumbo Jumbo as he tried to speak when he again met his eyes. "Did you see who attacked you? Or where they went afterwards?"

"Woah, slow down!" the tortoise advised, sounding, to Rudy's surprise, fairly calm about the situation, though it was obvious from the looks of everyone else that he was taking the incident very seriously. "Please, I can't answer so many things at once."

"Oh, sorry," he quickly apologized, as if not realizing he had posed so many questions at once. "We were in another city earlier and Snap saw on the news that the Magic Chalk Mine was targeted and that Biclops was attacked. Then it said that you were also a victim of an attack in the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, so we came here to find out if you're okay." He glanced to Penny, who nodded in agreement. "We thought you could use some help...and wondered if you could tell us anything about the attacker."

"Look," he began softly, "I know you want to be a good protector to ChalkZone, but I assure you we have everything under control here. You and your friends can go on back; you look like you need a rest."

"Well, we just want to find out as much as we can about what happened," Rudy explained, unsure how much the jungle Zoners would know about news that was easily spread throughout cities, but less so in places like these. "There's been more than one attack recently, and well, if they're connected in any way, I think we should try to get to the bottom of it."

"Well, we don't need help here, and I assure you, everyone's fine. The perpetrator didn't even make it inside the temple. He was not very dangerous and was stopped immediately when he arrived, and fled into the jungle after being confronted." His face looked thoughtful as he added, "I'm not exactly sure that what he was doing was meant to be an attack, but I did hear about the attack on that worker at Canyon Park. I think that if you wanted to help, they'd probably need more help than we do."

Rudy realized that the tortoise king obviously had some way of hearing the news, and it made him feel a bit better after hearing that the 'attack' wasn't as bad an incident as he'd feared it was. Although the Zoners here were obviously worried, he knew the police force and others were out tracking the intruder, who from the sound of things, wasn't a big threat, especially against the police force. He still wanted to help out, but he knew that tracking through the jungle in their vehicle would prove too difficult, and he and the others would find it hard to track on foot, even without Snap's injury. He had to admit that there wasn't much more they could do here.

"Yeah, well let's hope they catch 'im soon," Snap muttered, glancing at the jungle around him. "That's all we need…more trouble."

"I assure you that the temple will be securely guarded from this point on," King Mumbo Jumbo continued, "and the Zoners living here will be protected. You run along now and see if those at the park need your help. We'll be fine."

"All right," Rudy said with a nod, walking with his friends back toward the truck. Instead of getting into it, he told a nearby group of Zoners that it was free for anyone to use, and instead worked on drawing a small plane. As soon as it was finished, they got inside and lifted off above the treetops. Rudy headed to ChalkZone City, knowing they'd need a map to get to the park.

"Maybe we were overreacting a bit," Penny murmured as they flew over the landscape. "I mean, the news report did seem to be blowing the whole thing out of proportion only because the incidents happened at the same time. But you're right, Rudy. We should probably check on the Zoners at the park."

"Yeah," Rudy agreed. "The sooner we investigate, the closer we come to figuring this out."

**ooo**

Luckily, it was not long before the trio arrived at Canyon Park, which was luckily not located far enough away from ChalkZone City to take more than a half hour or so by Rudy's plane. Rudy and the others had never seen the place before but it was clear that it provided a great opportunity for Zoners to explore and look at some fantastic scenery. From what they could see from above, the park was a very large space of desert land covered in rocky sand-colored mountains and canyons, many of the mountains sporting incredible looking rock formations. Rudy had decided to land the plane at the front entrance of the park rather than inside it, in case the Zoners didn't approve of he and the others showing up without first going through the front gate. He also wasn't sure if the park cost money to enter.

After they landed, they noticed that the air around them was dry, but the temperature was pleasantly cool, not at all sparingly hot like Rudy would have expected. The ground was mostly hard-packed earth covered in a thin layer of sand, and the mountain formations up ahead were composed of bare, jagged stone that formed itself into strange shapes. Larger mountains towered over them in the distance, forming ridges and canyons that no doubt were the park's most widely known attractions and the reason so may Zoners came to visit it.

Rudy briefly wondered what the trails and areas for exploring were like in this place, as he was quite sure it was bound to be more exciting than Real World hiking trails. He thought it might be nice to explore it with his friends sometime, when Snap's leg had healed.

Sand and grains of rock crunched unto the trio's feet as they came to a flat sun-baked area beside a parking lot that clearly existed to accommodate for buses. Rudy led his friends up to the front gate, which was more like a decorative wall set up in front of an area that Rudy couldn't see clearly, but was close to the base of some of the mountains, he tried to analyze what was before him. From his position, he could only really see a mound of craggy rock beyond the wall. There was a line of Zoners in front of them and Rudy stood on tiptoes in an effort to get a better look.

He couldn't get a good view of where one was actually meant to enter the park due to the crowds, and he wondered again if Zoners had to pay to get in. He realized that Snap probably hadn't brought any money and was preparing to draw some when suddenly the line moved and they could get closer, where he could see that the person at the ticket booth built into the wall was merely handing out useful things such as maps as well as renting them rock-climbing and hiking gear for free.

When the line finally moved on and Rudy and his friends reached the entrance, the Zoner manning the booth, a colorful looking toucan, offered him a map as he held it with his wing. "Welcome to Canyon park, aark!" he croaked as Rudy took the map. "For more information on the trail tours we run, check the back of that map I gave you. And have a nice day! Aark!"

Rudy blinked a few times, finding his odd tendency to squawk a little distracting. "No…we're not here to go on the trails," he quickly explained. "We just want to talk to the Zoner who was attacked here...and see if we can help."

"Aark, I don't know a thing about that, mister. Far as I know, only one Zoner was harmed, but I couldn't tell you who. As for the attacker, well, he or she is long gone." He squawked again as he shook the feathers of one wing, eying the next, rather impatient Zoner in line.

"Well, maybe we could help in another way," Rudy replied. "We could make the park more secure if you wanted us to." Though he was starting to severely doubt the attacks were at all connected, he still felt like he should help out the Zoners who were affected by it, especially if this threat could be the beginning of more to come. He figured that since it was such a popular spot and many Zoners went there all the time, his help could definitely be used.

Rudy understood, but decided to pursue any leads about the attacker before anything else. Just as the toucan thought the boy and his friends were about to move along, Rudy asked, "Do you know the name of the Zoner who was attacked?"

"Sorry, no," shrugged the toucan, chirping again. "But you can probably ask the employees inside. They might know more about it."

"All right," Rudy stated, and as he passed through the gate, he jolted when the toucan released another unpredicted squawk. When he regained his bearings, he glared at the bird behind him, who was already serving another Zoner. He sighed and turned back to his friends, Penny taking the map from him out of mere curiosity and looking over it as they continued on to the next area.

Only a very small part of the region beyond was touched with sunlight before the overhanging rock blocked all light. They could see that underneath the overhang was a wide rock tunnel with a low ceiling which was clearly part of the trail. It cut through the small mountain, and they could see the other end from which light streamed through, guessing that it probably led to another open area. They quickly joined the group of Zoners walking through it, moving toward the side to allow others to pass them considering Snap's leg reduced the speed at which they could travel. The air was cool inside, and even though they could see light up ahead, it was pretty dark where they were.

Walking underneath the immense stone structure, the light was almost instantly reduced, making it difficult to see much of anything despite the bright exit a ways up ahead. As they passed through it along with the other group of Zoners, they could hear water trickling from somewhere overhead, but when they looked upward, it was too dark to tell where it was coming from. Occasionally they'd feel a drop of water.

"Do you think there are caves around here?" Penny wondered aloud.

"There could be; who knows!" Snap stated as he tried to peer around through the darkness.

"It would be interesting to study," Penny went on. "ChalkZone caves, even here, could vary greatly from Real World ones." She thought back to the gigantic crystal cave they had discovered on their journey to find the lost library books as she said it. "I wonder if the park has any books on these caves that we could look at." Snap just shrugged in response.

While his friends conversed, Rudy could not help thinking about the previous attacks on the Magic Chalk Mine and King Mumbo Jumbo. He found himself revisiting questions he posed before, which presented him with no more answers than before. Unable to keep it to himself, he confessed, "I don't understand why someone would attack a worker at the park either." He kept his voice low so only his friends could hear. "Unless the attack was just random, but..."

"I don't think it was," Penny replied, completing his thoughts. "With so many Zoners around, it wouldn't be easy to get away with such a thing. The Zoner who did this had to have had a reason for targeting this place specifically, and possibly, that person."

"Maybe they were trying to get one of the staff members to do somethin' for 'em?" Snap pondered.

"Maybe," Rudy replied after a string of thoughts led his mind in a circle. Snap's theory was plausible, but Rudy still felt oddly uneasy about the whole thing, as if there was more to it than any of them could put their finger on.

They emerged into a very large open area flanked with mountains and small rocky outcrops on all sides. There was a large canyon in the center of them up ahead that cut into the mountain range, but beyond that there just seemed to be trails leading up the mountains or hills of rocks. There were several stands set up, each seeming to sell different things. They stepped into the sunlight, looking around at the scenery and the Zoners who were walking in small groups. Penny took a moment to empty the dirt, rocks and other grit out of her shoe, already irritated with the sand.

There were groups of Zoners reading maps or heading toward the start of hiking trails by the mountains, some of them eager to travel while others lagged behind. Some had set up picnic rugs and began to serve food to their hiking companions, and a few were seen using their rented gear to scale the side of the tunnel they had just passed through.

"So where do we go now?" Snap asked, looking around, but the few employees seemed to be occupied either answering questions or ensuring those who began to scale rock walls were safe.

"Well…I guess we should look for available staff members," Rudy suggested, beginning to survey the area. The few employees who looked less busy than others that they encountered were quickly snatched up by Zoners with more concerns and queries, stealing them away every time Rudy hoped to approach one.

Just as Rudy was growing frustrated with their inability to find help, Snap piped up. "Why don't we ask one of them?" he questioned, pointing toward a group of a few Zoners wearing the same park uniform they'd seen others wearing. They were huddled behind a small cluster of rocks that had previously been out of Rudy's line of sight, which explained why they previously went unseen.

"Good idea," Rudy replied with a sigh of relief, seeing that the small group, which consisted of a short elephant, a blender with arms and legs, and a giraffe, didn't seem too busy with anything or anyone else. He and the others walked toward them, but as they approached, it was clear that they were too focused on talking with one another to notice him. "Uh, excuse me?" he began, having to repeat himself another time before the Zoners looked to him. "Do you-"

"What trail are you going on?" the elephant asked him before he could finish as he looked Rudy and his friends over. "What do you need?" His eyes paused on Snap as he muttered, "You don't seriously expect to hike here, do you? Well, sorry, but we aren't offering dinosaur rides up the mountain today."

"Look, buddy, we aren't here to go on any hikes," Snap responded, irritated that yet another Zoner didn't seem to want to bother with listening to them. "We're here on an important mission to figure out what's-"

"If you're not here to hike, then I can't help you," the elephant replied. Unlike King Archie's tendencies, he didn't at all seem to care what their 'mission' was, rather than just ignoring or selectively not hearing it. "You can't take the dinosaurs up today. Their handler was attacked, and-"

"Wait a minute," Rudy interrupted, "can you tell me where that Zoner is, or…at least what happened?" he asked. "We're here to try to investigate what happened here."

The elephant was about to speak up when the giraffe butted in, speaking instead. "Oh, yes, that would be Alyssa," she said, sounding entirely more helpful and willing to listen to them than her coworker. "You must be Rudy. I've heard about how you've helped ChalkZone. Are you here to help us catch the Zoner who threatened our staff member?"

"What's he supposed to do about it?" the elephant muttered as the blender Zoner, who seemed entirely uninterested in the conversation, busied himself with getting water from a cooler set out on a table nearby for the visiting Zoners. "You expect a kid to track that creature down when not even the police can?"

"You do understand what he's done for ChalkZone before, don't you?" the giraffe protested.

"If you don't mind my asking," Penny interrupted before the two could start arguing, "but what exactly was it that got into the park and attacked someone? If you can tell me what you've learned from its behavior, I'm sure we-"

"We didn't see it," the giraffe responded. "Not even Alyssa did… She was in one of the tunnels alone with one of the dinosaur guides when it happened. She said she saw a silhouette run into the tunnel that led out of the park, but that area's been closed down just in case."

"Oh," Rudy replied, acknowledging that the information, although likely the best they were going to get, wasn't very helpful. Piecing the findings from the three incidents together, it didn't seem at all like they were related, but at the same time, he wanted to at least make sure that the Zoners in this part were safe. "Well, could we talk to Alyssa then?" he asked, before something particularly unsettling occurred to him. "That is…if she hasn't been badly injured by it…" he completed with accompanying worry.

"No, she wasn't," the giraffe answered, shaking her head as if in gentle dismissal. "She's working at the books stall today. It's over in that direction." She pointed back toward the tunnel and gave them directions from there. They soon comprehended her guidelines and realized that they would have to head back toward the crowd of Zoners, then thanked her before leaving.

When they returned to the crowd and progressed to an undercover area housing scores of stalls, with a few smaller ones scattered outside the roofed area, that saw that the book stand was, ironically, the only one that was unoccupied except for the worker. She was a human-like Zoner who stood about twice Rudy's height and had short light blonde hair. She was busy organizing some books on a stand, not having spotted them yet. Rudy noted with a small amount of surprise that her arm was bruised, which was likely a result of the attack she suffered earlier.

As the trio headed toward the book shop, Snap releasing a small groan as his leg continued to ache with each step, Penny told Rudy to go on ahead while she would walk slower with Snap and avoid the surrounding Zoners. Rudy nodded and set his eyes on the book stand, which was little more than a large stand set up with a small selection of books covered in pictures of various places in the park, presumably providing information about the trails, natural wonders, or when elements of the park were drawn or formed. He briefly wondered if it contained information on when park itself was founded.

The Zoner seemed to be busy placing more books on a small shelf by the stand when she noticed them, quickly moving back behind the makeshift counter as she saw them approach.

"Oh, hello!" she began in a very fresh, alert manner. Rudy gave a small smile as he reached the stand, peering up at her. She began to move backwards, raising her arms to showcase some of the guide books on wire-thin holders. "Would you be interested in…" She paused for a second before a frown shadowed over her head. She seemed interested in the boy before her and he furrowed his brow a little, wondering if he had something on his face. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Rudy was only confused. He blinked repeatedly as he stared at her oddly. "Uhh…"

"Oh…oh, sorry! You just seem a little tired." She drew back a bit, focusing again on the guide book. "As I was saying, would you be interested…"

Her focus was suddenly removed as Snap and Penny arrived, at first producing a smile. "Hello," Penny responded to her greeting, but as the Zoner went to greet Snap, she froze again. Snap looked at her oddly.

"Dear me!" she exclaimed, concern riddling her face. "I hope you're okay!"

"Uhh…" Snap began. "Yeah. I'm…fine."

"Are you sure?" she prompted, inspecting his arm from afar. When she noticed his leg, she looked almost as if she was about to faint from worry. The others only frowned with confusion. "Do you need any help?" she wondered, then feeling as if she should get clarification. "How hurt are you? Is it really painful?"

The trio was rather stunned and Snap again tried to reassure her that he was fine. "I told ya, I'm fine. It all happened over a month—"

"No, no!" she shouted, extending a hand over the stall's counter as her eyes filled with something close to fear. "Don't talk! You don't have to talk, it's okay. Don't try to talk," she advised, somewhat misunderstanding the situation. Snap immediately stopped, his eyes wide as he hesitated to even breathe. "I'll get you something, okay? I'll get you…" She bent over and began frantically searching the shelves beneath the counter before a customer approached, pointing to a shelved guide book on Alyssa's left.

"Excuse me," the customer, a hotdog Zoner, began, but there was no response. He cleared his voice and spoke up, repeating his words. He waited for a few seconds a she rummaged through her things, Rudy tossing looks of sympathetic confusion to his friends. When she shot up, the Zoner waiting to be served tried again. "Ah. Can you please—"

"So sorry; so sorry!" she shouted at Snap, who cringed a little. "I don't…I don't have any bandages here. Do you need bandages? I think you do." Her eyes again scanned his form, and she began shaking her head, face clouded with worry. It was as if the customer was not there at all.

"Hello?" he questioned, clearly annoyed. "I want to buy a guidebook."

Alyssa was not on the same level as her customer, however, her thoughts in another place completely. She looked up from being in deep thought. "I-I can go home to get the bandages." Immediately she had decided, and was already scrambling for her car keys.

"W-wait!" Rudy called, unable to keep up with her.

"Yes…yeah, you'll have to wait here," she told them somewhat solemnly, slipping out from behind the stall's counter and around to them. The hotdog Zoner took this opportunity to approach her, but she only told him that she was busy. He gave a full-body sigh and left in a huff. "I hope you don't mind waiting, uhh…an hour? And then I'll be back with the bandages!"

"What?" Snap questioned, still extremely confused. He couldn't follow her either. "I don't wanna wait a whole hour! I don't even need—"

"Oh, you're right," she quickly interrupted. "You need to rest, don't you? Aww, you poor thing…" She clenched her jaws together as she again cast a ray of sympathy onto him. Penny was about to interject when another string of words travelled from the blond Zoner's lips. "Oh wait, wait, no…no, I can't leave the stand." She glanced over her shoulder. "But…I want to help you. Oh, fiddlesticks!"

"Look," Snap started again, this time intending to speak over her before she could overpower him. However, he only got a few words in until he lost his sentence, hers trampling all over his.

"Maybe, well, maybe I could help you some other way. If you can't have bandages and I don't have medicine then…then I could help you go all around the park today! Are you going on a tour? Have you been on a tour?" she questioned, a little enthused before she slipped back into her state of concern. "Oh, but that's also leaving the stand… Maybe…" her mind works as her eyes flickered back and forth. "I could carry all the books with me! Yes!"

Rudy and Penny slammed palms to their foreheads, and Snap only shook his head.

But as soon as she whirled around and the amount of books she had struck her, she drew the conclusion that her so-called "solution" was not much of a solution at all. "That…that won't work…unless I can get someone to cover for me…but that's not likely to happen." She returned her eyes to Snap. "But…I don't know if you should be walking so maybe you could…stay here? Until you're feeling better? First I should get you something comfortable to sit on, though…" She cringed again at his wounds as if she was feeling them herself. "You poor thing! You must be in so much pain. If only I could get you some ba—"

Snap shook his head instantly and took a step forward, silencing the blond Zoner at the shock that he could actually move. "Woah! Just calm down, lady… I'm _fine_, really! I don't need help, I don't need to stay here and I don't need…_bandages_." He whispered the last part, sick of hearing that he needed them.

After finally taking in the information he told her, she waited a moment. She seemed hesitant to believe him and looked to weigh her options. She did not seem like the type to take risks. "You know what?" she began, and the three looked at her, hoping she would finally agree to settle down. "…I should call the hospital." She turned around and headed back to the stall.

The three of them all groaned incessantly at that, gaining her attention once she returned behind the stall.

"What's wrong?" she wondered, looking concerned for all of them now.

"No! No, don't _do_ that," Rudy growled, ready to pull his hair out.

"That _won't_ be necessary," Penny added, emphasizing her words to example how impractical and illogical her solutions were.

Alyssa, however, seemed only a little confused by their words, as if she was being misled and knew it. Before she could reach the phone, she had paused to listen to them. "But…he clearly needs medical attention."

"I've already _had_ medical attention!" Snap growled.

"You're not fit to assess your own condition," she insisted, but Snap was a little baffled.

"You told me a minute ago to move around when I'm _feeling_ better!"

The contradiction did not seem to complicate things for her. "But you need taking care of! Just look at you."

"I promise, he's not dying," Penny told her, stepping closer to the stall.

Finally silence danced between the few as Alyssa's mind worked to comprehend what seemed to be some sort of impossibility. Rudy and Snap were hopeful that she was finally changing her mind.

"…Are you sure?"

"Oh, come on!" Snap blurted, clearly agitated. Alyssa only looked more uncomfortable.

"It's very nice that you're so concerned for our friend, but can we ask you some questions?" Penny wondered, trying to change the conversation's direction. The human-like Zoner took a moment to focus.

"It's about the attack reported on the news," added Rudy, trying to change the subject as best he could.

"Oh, okay," she answered, still seeming concerned.

Rudy drew and handed a small notepad with a pencil over to Penny as she asked, "Can you tell us what happened?" She readied her pencil and kept her eyes on the Zoner.

She blinked a couple of times as she mentally went back in time, trying to focus on her memory. "I'm not sure why I was targeted… I'm the caretaker for the guide dinosaurs who take the tourists and their luggage along the trails leading up to the mountains. Some of the dinosaurs take supplies up there. The thing that attacked me…" She gave her head a flick, a frown bunching her brow as she eyed the ground. "I didn't see it properly, but it was an animal…on four legs." She looked up at them, a little apologetic. "That's all I can really tell you."

Penny scribbled down notes as the blond Zoner talked. "Were you harmed in the process?" She could clearly see the bruising on her right arm and the other scrapes along her shoulder and forearm, but wanted to identify if she obtained them from the fight or not.

"Only a little," she answered while flashing her glance on her arms. "But my dinosaurs… I was so worried that the animal creature would hurt them!" The trio glanced to one another, wondering if she realized how physically powerful dinosaurs of their kind were, as they could see them displayed on the front cover of one of her laminated paperback books. "You see…it attacked us while we were in the dinosaur stables, which is…rather wide, dark cave with only one entrance. It is not easy to get to, either, and yet it targeted us anyway. And because it was so dark, it was difficult to make out any of the creature's detail. I was so worried, though…" she whispered, shaking her head as she thought back.

"No kiddin'…" Snap agreed. "I'd be worried for my life too."

The Zoner only continued to shake her head, but this time in disagreement. "Not for me; for the dinosaurs! They could have been…badly hurt…"

"Uhh…" Penny changed uncertainly to Rudy, and then back, clearing her voice. "Was there any particularly odd behavior from the creature? Anything you distinctly recall as unusual or unique?"

The Zoner thought for a moment before replying, "I admit that…it seemed to be after me more than the dinosaurs. It waited until I was apart from them before attacking me. But it didn't get much further than pushing me over before one of the dinosaurs scared it away… I'm so thankful he didn't get hurt for doing that for me."

"Has this happened before?" Penny wondered.

"No, this was the only time," the Zoner's responded.

"Well, that's…odd," Penny muttered to Rudy, who agreed. They left the conversation there and thanked the blond Zoner for her time. She seemed happy to share her story with them, but it left each of them with more questions. "That is very peculiar."

"Sure is," Rudy agreed.

As they departed the book stall, both walking slowly for Snap's sake, each of them had new thoughts on their minds. "Isn't it strange, though, that this intruder would attack someone working in such a secluded place?" Penny wondered as they began to head away from the stand and the crowds. "It doesn't sound easy to get in there by accident. There's definitely something not right about this." Unlike how she had felt in the jungle, this story unnerved her a lot more for some reason. She wanted to get to the bottom of it largely because it was the first of such an attack and did not sound like the work of an aimless, less intelligent creature.

"It's weird they'd attack someone in this park at all," Rudy mused, a little uneasy. "Alyssa said the dinosaur stables were in a hard-to-reach place, and there would have been plenty of Zoners it could have run into before then…so she had to have been the target from the start."

Snap frowned a little as he hobbled along with his crutch. "Yeah…somethin's fishy here."

"For sure," Rudy muttered determinedly. He held out a palm and dropped a curled fist into it. "And we're going to find out what it is."

Though the results of the attack had been mild, Penny was inclined to agree with them. There was something simply…off about the situation, and she couldn't help but have a bad feeling about it. Snap nodded eagerly, clearly as determined to resolve the situation as Rudy was, especially considering how good of a person Alyssa seemed. Even though her overreaction to his state was completely unnecessary, she had been extremely concerned for him – a complete stranger – and he could only assume that she was frequently that caring. Such kind Zoners were rare.

"So what are we gonna do now, Bucko?" Snap asked after his thoughts replayed a few times over. He looked to his friend curiously, who took a moment to return the glance.

"I'm not sure," he admitted with a sigh. "Maybe there's someone else who saw something, but I'm not betting on that…" He raised his eyebrows and kept his eyelids at half-mast as if in indecision. "Apart from that, I just don't know."

"Well..." Penny started, remembering what Alyssa had mentioned about the dinosaur stables including only one entrance. "If we can get a better look at the premises, perhaps we can determine which exits the criminal could have taken."

Thinking that Penny's idea was a good one, he drew rockets on his shoes and took to the air, wobbling a little as he tried to adjust to the startling height, and peered out over the landscape. He had to climb fairly high to see over the tops of the mountains, although they were fairly small, and as he did so, he observed that many of the twisting turns of the canyons and tunnels were impossible to see clearly from above, many of them shielded by more stone. He told himself that he may be able to follow the naturally-formed roads to navigate around and possibly encounter clues about the attacker's chosen escape path and began to consider it as their next course of action. He was about to head back down to tell his friends as he wondered if he would be allowed by the park rangers to draw Snap some sort of transportation to take on the tours when he noticed something in the distance.

It was a series of very large buildings, the biggest ones clustered together with several others surrounding them, lying on the flat desert plain quite a distance from the mountains of the park. Smoke spewed from the structures in the center and he figured that they each had to be part of some sort of factory. The landscape it lay in was fairly empty otherwise, and there was a large fence set up close to the edge of the park itself, part of it standing about fifty yards away from one of the rock piles surrounding the section they had been prior to visiting Alyssa, where the trails began. Though he wasn't sure the place had anything to do with the strange Zoner, it seemed a bit too guarded for him to be completely unsuspicious. He thought that it would be a good idea to investigate, and headed back down to the ground to talk with his friends.

"Did you see anything useful?" Penny wondered, Snap too looking interested.

"Yeah…" Rudy started with a frown. "Not much, but there were these factories in the distance that somehow seemed a little suspicious and out of place." He gave a small shrug, indicating his confusion at their random placement.

"Maybe they like the view?" Snap considered, as if he may have been one such Zoner.

Rudy moved his mouth to the other side of his face in thought. "I'm not sure, but…I kind of want to find out a bit more about them…" He began to rotate around, again searching for park employees.

Before his friends could protest, the boy headed back toward the entrance to the park, where he was sure he could find a way to speak to management, or even just a few workers. Penny and Snap looked at each other and silently conveyed to one another that they were unsure that Rudy's plan was necessary through a particular expression and a small shrug or two. As Rudy's endeavor led them to countless workers who consistently had no answers for him, the two grew even less sure that his plan was a good idea.

Penny fought to catch Rudy's eye as he searched through a crowd he had approached, and when she did, he turned to her somewhat impatiently. "I want to get a better look at this place," she informed him, and mentioned that she would likely take Snap with her. He nodded and returned to his task while she glanced up at the rocky walls and formations near where they were and beyond.

She led Snap toward the rock walls on the other side of the tunnel and told him that she would inspect them. She glanced about before slipping closer toward it, noting with a small frown that there was a break in the rock if it was looked at from a certain angle. Surprised, and knowing it would lead in the direction Rudy had said the factories rested, she indicated for Snap to come over to her.

When he did, she notified him of the gap's presence and pretended to be talking of something unrelated as a few Zoners passed by. When they were gone and all others in the area were occupied by their own affairs, she told him to pass through it. Snap figured that it would be best if he went through first and eagerly worked his way between the rock walls, one of them rather thin while the other was much thicker, as it was the entire formation. When he was through, Penny carefully passed into it and popped out in a surprisingly clear area. As they rounded a large formation before them, walls either side of it, they came face-to-face with a smallish fence.

"What the heck?" Snap began with confusion in his voice. "I thought this place was much bigger than this." He glanced to the left and right to gauge the length of the fence, noting that the large walls of rock ran alongside the fence, making the path of following the fence a narrow one.

"I don't understand it either…" Penny remarked quietly, and they both decided to take the left path. It proved to be as narrow as they thought, but thankfully Snap's crutch had no trouble with helping him navigate through.

It was not much longer before they came to an unexpected gate in the fence. Curiously, Penny verified that it was safe to go through, and opened it for Snap before she entered herself. The area beyond the fence stretched for a short while before another fence, one that was considerably more high-security and at least three times the other fence's height, bordered what was clearly the factories Rudy had spotted from above. With wide eyes, Penny and Snap began to approach it when suddenly something caught their eye.

From behind one of the many clusters of rock, which were clearly abundant even outside the park, a bulky mass of shiny metal reflected sun into their eyes. Both squinted and held up their hands, Snap having to lean on his crutch before doing so, realizing that the metal was the hide of a large, silver robotic big cat. It was a cross between a leopard and a panther, but had the face of a cheetah and the tail and a small mane of a lion. It approached from the direction of the fence, stalking with smooth movements as its wheels, which replaced legs, rolled it toward Penny and Snap. The robotic Zoner seemed to scrutinize them as he neared, and although Penny and Snap had both never seen this Zoner before, they knew that he was aware of who they were.

"What are you doing here?" he bellowed, his voice sounding low and mechanical. "This is private property, and I'd suggest you stay within the park grounds."

Snap gave him a look of annoyance and then glanced over at the fence, which had to be at least fifty yards away. "Uh…the fence is over there," he muttered. "We're not even close to it, let alone touching it."

"We're just looking around," Penny explained. "If we could talk to someone who knows more about those factories, I'm sure-"

"You need to talk to someone?" he mocked in a condescending voice. Shortly after, it altered immediately to one of intimidation. He rolled closer, watching as the two before him tensed. "You're talking to someone right now." He left the comment in the open before grunting, "You can't go any further than this."

At this, Penny grew annoyed. "We aren't within the fence's perimeters. As far as I'm concerned, we're well within our rights to be here."

"Yeah," Snap agreed. "C'mon, Penny, let's get a closer look."

As he turned to the fence, the robot wheeled his way in front of him in an instant, startling him a little. "You want to get closer?" he growled, and without warning, he leaned forward and grabbed the crutch Snap was holding, tearing it out of his hand so quickly that he barely had time to emit a cry of protest before toppling over. Taking the object in both paws, he snapped it in half, throwing the pieces at Penny and Snap's feet. He sneered. "Well, now you can't."

With a growl of anger, Snap stood up, keeping his weight on his good leg. "What is your problem?" he shouted. "We-"

"You're leaving. _Now_," the robot interrupted with an unrestrained snarl. There was a moment of tension before he lashed out and clamped his large paws onto both of their arms and lifted them. Immediately there was a reaction of terror mixed with anger in the form of shouts and cries, but he ignored them as his wheels drove him toward the park's small fence. Penny was a little surprised how far up they were while they were being carried, but the Zoner was tall, so at the same time, she knew she should have expected it. She was afraid to struggle in case she was dropped. That did not stop her from vocalizing her displeasure, however.

"Let me go!" she demanded in vain, Snap spouting similar requests and minor insults.

He ignored them, and they were taken quite unceremoniously back to the rocks, where he lowered them over the fence and tossed both of them to the ground. Snap gave a shriek and Penny a shout of discomfort before eying the robot. "Get back in there and stay there," he muttered, turning away.

Snap, amid his feelings of rage, looked ready to argue. Penny knew that doing so was pointless, however, so she helped him back up onto his feet as they watched the metallic Zoner slowly roll away. She hardened her frown and advised that they leave, which he reluctantly agreed to, and hobbled alongside his friend parallel to the fence, planning immediately to tell someone of authority, even just Rudy, what had happened.

After they had disappeared past the large rock structure that led to the gap from which they came, the robot pulled a chalky talky from a compartment in his left arm with his right. As soon as he heard the voice on the other end respond, he muttered, "You'd better alert the boss. There's something I think Serilda ought to know…"

**ooo**

"Have you decided yet?" that strange, smooth voice on the other end of the phone line rang in Serilda's ear.

"Yes," the bear replied casually. "The answer is 'no.' I'm not selling it." The voice was quiet, and Serilda had to admit that she found his silence amusing. "I've come to the decision that it's simply not worth the money. The machine itself is of far greater value to me."

"…I see…" the voice replied, an edge to his voice that irritated the grizzly. "But I think you need to consider-"

"Good bye," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice, hanging up the phone. "Well, that takes care of that!" she stated to herself. A moment later, a knock on the door interrupted her, and after her word, it opened to reveal an anthropomorphic red squirrel Zoner.

"There's something I need to report," he explained, looking a bit nervous as he faced her. "A few things, actually."

"What, Franky?" she asked, preparing to note his concerns while a look of displeasure and impatience spilled across her face.

"Well, Archie has…just informed one of the other supervisors, that…well, he's cancelling his next order."

"_What?_" Serilda spat. "Why? Did he give up on his stupid project already?"

"No," Franky replied, "he was having…Rudy Tabootie draw the parts."

"He…what?" she snarled, her face a mask of pure rage. In a fit of anger she reached out toward the wall and raked her claws across it, slicing not just through the floral wallpaper, but a few inches into the wall itself. "Little brat! Why is the Great Creator messing about in those parts?" She snarled and looked toward the damaged wall. "Get someone to fix that!" she snapped, then rested her head in her paws. "I suppose it was only a matter of time he started meddling in my business. Maybe if we could get the new machine working properly we could produce things more cheaply and get more clients. We wouldn't need Zoners like that pompous-"

"The machine?" the squirrel questioned. "Weren't you going to sell it?"

"No, I am not going to sell it!" Serilda growled. "In fact, I just told that nosy windbag who wanted it 'no.' The price he offered for it isn't worth a new machine. Like I said before, I'm looking to get it fixed."

"Well, you know I don't work in that building," he stated, careful not to agitate her. At the same time, he always made an effort to wear a calm expression. "I haven't actually…seen your new machine. What exactly is wrong with it?"

She gave a short sigh. "It seems...I believe...to have been designed by an artist whose only purpose for it was to be...well, as dangerous as possible," she muttered, bobbing her head in annoyance as she pursed her lips. She did not bother to meet his eyes. "I believe that it was meant to be the setting for some silly dramatic story, or comic, or movie that they were planning. Essentially...it does what it's meant to do, and does it _very _well...until accidents happen. And they happen...a _lot_." She shook her head as she spoke, clearly disapproving. When she lifted her gaze and rested it on her employee's face, her eyes darted about a moment, as if inspecting his fur. "There are no safety precautions on this thing and it is extremely hazardous to work with. The last time we tried to use it, one of the workers got pulled into the machinery and well, let's just say the room ended up looking like someone had just died from Balloonemia in there. The machinery was jammed up and it took two weeks to fully clean it." She sneered at the memory, heavily resenting it for the time and money it cost her. She looked away from him and approached her desk, where she neatened a pile of papers. "What I'm saying is, it needs safety measures implemented, desperately. Right now it's practically all but useless, but if we could make it safe, it could produce parts at a far faster and more efficient rate than any other machine in the factories."

"I…see," he replied. "In that case, good on you for telling that buyer off." He paused. "Do you know who could fix it?"

"Not yet…" she hissed. "I'm still wondering how we're going to find the funds for it now that Rudy's messed it all up." She stood up, moving past the other Zoner and out of the room.

"Rudy…does help ChalkZone," the squirrel stated as he followed Serilda through the hallway.

"Well, he should stick to saving it and not to messing with my clients," she growled.

"But I was thinking," he continued, looking at her warily. "Maybe Rudy could fix your machine."

Serilda slammed her fist against the wall, whirling around to her comrade with anger. "Are you insane?" she growled, her volume rising. "Do you know what would happen if that nasty little brat caught wind of what goes on in those factories? Do you know what he'd _do?_ At best, he'd get the whole thing investigated. At worst, he'd put a stop to it entirely and land both you and I in _prison_."

"He's just a kid," the squirrel said with a shrug. "He doesn't need to see anything, and if he does, I'm sure we can-"

"I don't think you fully understand what he and his friends are like," she continued. "These are not ordinary kids. They're not helpless or stupid. And Rudy…he has power over something we don't, that magic chalk of his. I know what's happened to Zoners who've underestimated them. Let's just be glad he's never come around here."

"Actually," he continued, "that's part of what I wanted to tell you." Serilda looked to him expectantly, widening her eyes to hurry him when he didn't speak immediately. "Rudy and his friends are at Canyon Park… Ironveer spotted them, and…told me that they wanted to look at the factories."

"What?" she cried, her eyes widening. "_Who told them_-"

"I don't think they know _anything_…" he said quickly, backing away a bit. "They just seemed to want to have a look, and they were stopped by the worker patrolling the fence, so…"

"Listen, this won't be like keeping the park rangers out," Serilda snarled. "The brat goes wherever he pleases and I won't let him or either of his little friends set a foot inside the factory grounds!"

"Well, we can have someone else patrol as well…"

"Not good enough," she retorted, drawing back her lips to reveal long fangs. "They'll find a way around it if they really want to." She moved closer. "Listen, I want you to find those three kids, find out whatever it is that they're looking for and give them a false trail…lead them away from my property. I want them _out of here!_"

"All right, all right!" Franky muttered quickly. "I'll go over there and see what they want."

"You'd better," the bear growled. "And make sure your story is convincing."

**ooo**

Rudy had assigned himself to the task of visiting the dinosaur stables and creating a stronger protection system to defend against intruders, or to simply direct those who strayed in another direction. As well as that, he increased its concealment through a series of more rock clusters about the place, close to the entrance. He had finished by the time Penny and Snap found him back through the tunnel and near the park's entrance, and he was about to discuss with them the fact that no Zoners around had been a help to their case; they either saw nothing, knew nothing about it or knew only as much as what he had already been told. He was beginning to realize the whole thing seemed hopeless and it might be better to simply fly over to the factories and investigate on his own.

"Unacceptable. That was unacceptable!" Penny mumbled, repeating it louder the second time. Rudy furrowed his brow.

"Penny? Snap? …What's wrong?" he asked, assessing the concern, anger and fear intermingled between their faces. He was surprised it took him until then to notice that Snap's crutch was missing, which he quickly tended to with a few waves of his magic chalk.

"Some bozo told us to get lost, and when we didn't, he chucked us back over the park fence!" Snap leaned on his crutch as he rubbed a sore spot from the landing.

Penny sighed. "We followed a trail to the edge of the park, and after we went through the gate, there was another fence about fifty yards away…and some robot Zoner treated us poorly."

"What?" Rudy cried. "Why would the park allow-"

"He wasn't from the park," Penny informed him somewhat snidely, although her attitude was directed to the unprofessionalism of the Zoner she spoke of. "He was working for whoever owns those factories."

Rudy's brow knotted with concern and interest. He was only growing more and more suspicious of these factory lots, especially since nobody seemed to have much information on them. His mind stirred with questions he craved answers for, but had to live with the knowledge that his curiosity would not be satiated until the matter had been properly investigated; he briefly considered notifying the police of this, although he did not have enough evidence to claim suspicious activity…yet. Suddenly he felt anger sweep through him at the appalling treatment of his friends. "I won't let whoever did this get away with it," he proclaimed, chopping a flat hand diagonally through the air in a gesture of defiance. He began to storm off without proper directions.

"Wait a minute, Rudy," Penny began, darting forward and grabbing his arm. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. We should probably approach this differently…instead of head-on."

"Why?" he questioned, unable to see her reasoning.

"This robot Zoner was not an ordinary citizen, Rudy. He was…very strong and seemed to think he had a lot of authority. He might be expecting retaliation."

"…Maybe you're right," Rudy sighed. "But if they're that worried about making sure nobody passes, there's probably something going on there that isn't _meant_ to be going on. Maybe if we could-"

"Rudy?" a friendly sounding voice called, and Rudy, not expecting a visitor, turned around to see a Zoner he didn't recognize: a furry red squirrel that stood on his hind legs and was nearly twice Rudy's height. A fancy purple vest hugged his torso, striped vertically with wire-thin strips of gold and onyx buttons down the center. "It's an honor to meet you. I'm a fan of yours indeed!"

Rudy smiled, somewhat used to similar attention. "I'm glad to hear that," he said heartily—or as heartily as he could manage, given the situation.

"Anyway, I'm sure you don't mind skipping the pleasantries." Rudy shook his head. "My name is Franky and I think I know why you're here."

"Really?" Rudy wondered, highly doubting that the Zoner would know. Penny and Snap had similar thoughts.

"Yes, and I think I can help you."

"Do you know where we could find out what happened with the creature that attacked a Zoner here?" Penny stepped in, and the look on the squirrel's face brightened.

"Yes, yes, as a matter of fact, I can," he replied, his voice filled with confidence. "In fact, based on the description of this…creature…I believe I know where it lives." His tone conveyed the opportunity for enticement as he smiled, gesturing with a single hand to Rudy and then Penny. "I'm sure you two could find it and put a stop to it."

"Wait, wouldn't it be dangerous to try to confront it in its own home?" Penny questioned, a little wary.

"Not if we lay a trap for it," Rudy considered. He brightened up a little, addressing both Penny and Snap. "This could be the lead we were looking for. It's going to help the Zoners here prepare in case this happens again, and don't worry. We'll be careful."

"Are you sure about this, Bucko?" Snap asked, jabbing a finger over his shoulder at the squirrel, who was standing a few feet behind. He did not seem as convinced as Rudy. "I mean, we don't even know who this guy is."

"Well, he's the only lead we have. If he thinks he knows where this creature is, we have to take the chance that he's right." His friends stood, Snap leaning on his crutch; they clearly did not like the situation. He sighed. "I know it seems a little unlikely that this could lead to anything, but we might be able to determine whether or not the three attacks were all connected or not." He gave a shrug. "We don't have anything to lose in capturing a wrongdoer anyway, even if it's not the same one who attacked King Mumbo Jumbo and the Magic Chalk Mine." He stood there a moment longer before they relented.

"Well, all right," Penny sighed. "I suppose it sounds reasonable."

"It is," Rudy confirmed, and looked back to the red stranger. "So…can you show us where it is?"

The squirrel grinned. "Certainly."


	3. Blind Exploration

**Cryptic Infiltration**

**Chapter Three – Blind Exploration**

Bright sunlight streamed down over the group as they sped across the flat desert landscape beneath a cloudless sky, in the new vehicle Rudy had drawn. Franky the squirrel sat in the front beside Rudy, occasionally offering directions, but for the greater part of the journey, his input wasn't necessary. The desert was so bare and flat here that the red-furred Zoner knew the kids would have no problem finding the place he had in mind once they got close enough to it. They could already make out the mountains in the distance.

He was glad that the three had wanted to find something that he could easily make up a story and a location for. He had happened to know of the perfect place to take on the role of the lair of the 'beast' that the trio was apparently searching for. It was an old industrial building lying on the outskirts of the desert that had long since fallen into disuse; he and some of Serilda's other workers had taken everything useful they had found in it quite some time ago. It now lay abandoned and useless, but it served Franky's new purpose well. The place was huge, and he was sure it would occupy the children for quite some time. And, being in the desert, it was close enough that it would seem probable to the three that the creature they were searching for had made its lair there, and, as Rudy had explained, attacked someone in the park. He had also insisted that Rudy draw them a car for the journey rather than use the plane the boy had drawn earlier. He claimed he was terrified of planes, knowing the trio would be more likely to give up altogether when they inevitably found nothing in the building if the journey there had been longer and more tiring.

The squirrel leaned back in his seat, enjoying the feeling of the wind in his face as he turned from the window and glanced toward his temporary companions. Just based on what little he had seen of them, Franky could understand his boss's annoyance with the three. They seemed to be constantly messing in things that didn't concern them, and he chuckled lightly to himself as he pondered the irony of them possibly finding an _actual_ beast that had taken up residence, for whatever reason, in the abandoned building. He thought that the group of friends seemed trusting enough, or least Rudy did. Of his friends, Penny seemed more worried about the possible dangers of the building and the creature they now believed lived there, and Snap still seemed suspicious of the whole thing. As he thought this, Franky caught Snap giving him a distrustful look, and he smiled, resisting the urge to laugh at the fact that Snap was still going along with all this despite his suspicions. _'Just going along with what Rudy wants to do, huh?'_ he thought to himself, finding it just as pathetic as Rudy's own trust in him. He gave the blue Zoner another cheery smile, as if he hadn't noticed anything amiss.

"Rudy, are you sure this is a good idea?" Snap muttered as he turned away from Franky's gaze. "I mean, ya did make the park more secure while we was there, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," Rudy called back from the front seat, "but we aren't sure exactly what this thing is capable of if it can sneak into that cave so easily. I just want to make sure no one else gets hurt."

"What are_ you _so worried about?" Franky began, turning to Snap with another cheerful look, his voice sounding upbeat and friendly. "You won't be going in the building. You'd probably just hurt your other leg." Before the blue and white Zoner could reply, the red squirrel turned to Rudy. "Now, you're probably going to have to go pretty far into this building, but I promise you, the creature sleeps during the daytime, so you'll have no problem-"

"The attack_ happened_ during the day," Snap muttered in an irritated tone. "Seems your information ain't quite so accurate."

"Well, obviously it had a very specific reason for this attack," Franky continued, quickly thinking of a believable explanation. "It obviously targeted this Zoner at a time no one would think to expect it."

"I thought this was the first time this happened," Snap stated.

"Well…maybe at the park," Franky continued, thinking fast, "but I've heard the people at the factories have been terrorized by this creature before."

"Wait, what?" Penny cried, obviously startled, as she turned to him.

"Y-yes!" he continued enthusiastically, making sure he appeared visibly distraught. "Many of them have been attacked by this…this beast, and recently too…and it usually attacks at night or during evening. Very unusual for it to attack during the daytime." He shook his head in mock confusion. "Very unusual…"

"Uh, Franky?" Rudy began, keeping his eyes on the way ahead as he addressed the squirrel. "Do you happen to know what this creature looks like?"

"I dunno, I've never seen it," he replied. "Well, caught glimpses of it when I went exploring around this area, but it was always in the shadows, around that big building. Had to be the same one…" He was glad when the trio didn't question him as to how the monster was commonly described.

The group didn't speak much as they continued to travel across the flat desert, soon coming closer to the small mountains where Franky knew was the location of building he had been leading them towards. "Right! There it is!" he cried, sitting upright and pointing a paw toward the mountains. Now that they were closer, they could each make out, in spite of the shadow cast over the rocks, the ancient gray husk of an enormous, long abandoned building at the base of the mountains.

"So…you're pretty sure this creature will be asleep?" Rudy asked as he peered at the structure they were rapidly approaching.

"Positive," Franky assured him. "After all, it traveled all the way to the park and back yesterday…it's got to be tired."

"And if it wakes up?" Snap asked worriedly.

"Rudy's got the magic chalk, right?" the squirrel replied calmly. "Not much that could go wrong, is there?" He noticed Penny frown at him, but she said nothing, fixing her gaze on the building as well.

It did not take long for them to arrive at the base of the mountain. Rudy parked the car in front of the building. Its solid gray walls stretched many stories high, and the structure was wide enough to accommodate a vast amount of rooms. Several of its windows were broken, many of them having been reduced to gaping holes lined with shards of glass, and there were no longer any front doors, simply a wide, rectangular black opening looming in front of them and positioned where a once grand entrance would have been. Suddenly worried, Rudy looked at the others after they'd all stepped out of the car. "We'd better block all the exits," he stated. "In case that monster tries to come out while we're in there."

"We might not have to go in at all," Penny began, her gaze scanning the building's vast form. "We could just leave one entrance open and set the trap there."

"Oh, I'm not sure…" Franky began, suddenly seeming a bit worried as the others looked to him. "The creature's skilled at sneaking in and out of places…you might have no choice but to go in." He paused before giving them a sympathetic glance.

"That's true," Rudy sighed. "After all, it did get into the dinosaur cave in the park, and Alyssa said that was hard to get into, but…we should still block the entrances, at least to delay it if it tries to get out while we're looking for it."

"Yes, yes, that's a great idea!" Franky complimented. "However, before you do that, I would much appreciate it if you drew me some transportation so I could get back to the park. It's busy at this time of day, and I'm sure I'll be needed."

"What? You're just gonna take off right now?" Snap cried.

"I…didn't know you worked for the park," Penny stated, a bit surprised, before the squirrel could reply to Snap.

"I do," he replied. "I wasn't supposed to work today, but…" He trailed off for a moment before continuing. "One of my coworkers needed my help, and I agreed to come in, but then I met you of course."

"He must mean Alyssa," Penny stated to Snap, whose suspicion vanished for a moment before he sighed and nodded.

Franky gave them a pleased grin. "Oh…oh, yes! Exactly! I'm glad you understand."

Rudy told Franky he'd draw him a car after he blocked the exits to the building, and they watched as he used the rockets on his shoes to lift off toward the building's upper windows, examining them carefully before drawing bars across the first one, making sure to draw them thick and sturdy.

"Hope you guys don't end up trapped in there yourselves," Franky began in a joking manner as Rudy began to repeat the same thing with the other windows. "That would be a bit of a problem."

"Rudy could just draw a hole in the bars," Snap replied with a shrug, a little annoyed with how casual the Zoner had sounded. "We're not gonna get trapped."

"Snap," Penny interrupted, glancing away from the building, "I…think you're going to have to stay behind." She glanced toward his leg and he frowned.

"Yeah, but…maybe I can…"

"Penny's right," Rudy said regretfully as he landed beside them, having already finished blocking the windows and the other doorways, as there hadn't been as many as he'd first thought, despite the size of the building. "It might be dangerous, and we'd have to search a large area."

Snap sighed. "I guess you're right, Bucko," he muttered reluctantly. After walking around so much that day, his injured leg was starting to hurt much worse than it usually did.

Rudy turned back to the building. "Okay, well that takes care of all the other exits," he stated with a hint of nervousness, looking up at the building before drawing a smaller vehicle for Franky, who nodded in appreciation as it was completed.

"That's very nice! Thank you, Rudy," he said pleasantly.

"You're welcome," the boy replied with a smile. "And thank you for helping us find this place."

"My pleasure," the red-furred squirrel replied, getting into the car and waving to the trio as he cried, "Well, I definitely need to be getting back, and you need to find that creature!" He smiled and added a quick good bye before starting the vehicle. He barely waited for their replies before he sped off into the desert. Rudy was momentarily confused before he remembered that Franky had said he was needed back at the park, and didn't think much of his hasty departure.

"Snap, in case anything bad happens while we're in there, you should stay in the car, and drive to safety if anything happens," Rudy told his friend, who looked less than pleased with the idea.

"All right…" Snap sighed, seeming a bit worried about the prospect of leaving Rudy and Penny behind.

"Don't worry about us," Rudy reassured him. "We'll be fine." Knowing the building was likely to be dark, he drew both himself and Penny a helmet with a light attached, much like the ones they had used while exploring the gigantic crystal cave they had discovered a month ago. As an extra precaution, he drew a small device designed to launch a pod that would release a sort of sleeping gas.

"Good thinking, Rudy," Penny complimented as he explained to her how it worked.

"We can stop the monster with this when we find it," he told Snap, who just nodded, looking less worried after Rudy's reassurance, but more irritated that he would not be able to help.

Rudy and Penny faced the open doorway, which was quite large compared to the rest of the doors they had seen in other parts of the structure, and Rudy began drawing the trap. Moving the chalk along the ground, he traced a large, rectangular pit, pausing once it was completed to make sure it stretched as long as the door opening and the small steps leading up to it. He then used his rocket shoes to draw a trapdoor over it. Afterward, Penny suggested that he add a mechanism that would cause bars to lock into place once the creature was trapped, and Rudy nodded, drawing a row of bars on each side of the trap designed to spring into place after a Zoner had triggered the trap. He then covered the whole thing with a thick rug made to look like the desert dust. Penny and Snap were impressed at how well it blended in with the surrounding ground.

"Obviously, we'll have to remove this when we're gone," Penny said as she walked up to where she knew the trap's edge was. "We don't want any innocent Zoners getting trapped in there."

"Yeah, you're right," Rudy replied. He only hoped that the beast would be inclined to flee, like it had in the park, and would run into the trap. It was the least hazardous way of removing the danger. "We'll be back soon!" he called to Snap as he walked along the edge of the trap toward the building's entrance.

The trap area was the same length as the doorway itself, so Rudy and Penny had to carefully step over the corner of it and onto the small set of steps leading up to the door to get inside. Once they walked through the opening, they waited a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the lower light level as they carefully scanned the room with their helmet lights.

It was fairly large, and had several doors leading to other areas, most of them torn down or hanging ajar at odd angles. There were only a few pieces of furniture, each of them broken beyond any sort of repair, but other than that, the room was completely empty.

"Rudy, look," Penny whispered, pointing down toward their feet. Rudy glanced down and for the first time noticed that there were footprints in the dust tracked in from the desert that scattered the floor all around them, and he tensed. "Wait a minute," Penny continued, "these weren't made by a four legged creature." She knelt down to inspect the prints, which had quite obviously been made by a being who walked on two legs. "Someone else was here."

"They might have been looking for the same thing we are," Rudy suggested, realizing that the footprints weren't very old, or the wind would have blown them away. Penny pointed out different sets of tracks that looked similar but headed out the door, and he wondered aloud if it had been a group of explorers.

"If it was, it looked like they left without difficulty," Penny replied. "The creature might not make its home inside the building at all…perhaps it instead lives around the mountains."

"Maybe," Rudy replied with a twinge of worry for Snap, "but we should…still make sure, shouldn't we?"

Penny nodded in reply and they carefully crept forward, peering into the doorways but noting that everything seemed as vacant and empty as the first room. "Rudy, I don't think it's in here," she said after they had wandered for several minutes and come to enter a large room with two sets of stairs, both in a bad state of ruin and decay. "We would have seen footprints of a four-legged creature at the entrance if it had been here recently. The windows were too high up for it to reach easily, and the front entrance is much more accessible than the other doorways. I suppose it could have come in another way, but it seems unlikely. It might not have been here for days." She began to feel uneasy about the thing, and couldn't shake the feeling they were looking in the wrong place.

"Maybe not," Rudy said after a moment, "but hopefully we'll find something here that'll help us learn about it, and stop it from hurting anyone else."

They looked warily around the room, still a bit unnerved at the thought of running into the creature in its own lair despite the fact that there was no sign of it. The place was massive, but so bare of anything that Rudy couldn't guess what it had originally been used for. The walls were all the same dull gray color, and seemed to be comprised of sheets of metal in this particular room. Many places of the wall were coated thickly in rust, dirt, or both, and as they craned their necks to look upward, they could spot several holes in the ceiling.

The amount of doors and hallways leading from the room unnerved Rudy, and he found himself attempting to watch them all at once, half expecting the creature to jump out at them at any moment. He reminded himself that, since Alyssa's injuries were fairly minor, they weren't likely dealing with anything incredibly dangerous, and forced himself to relax.

"Where do you think it would be hiding?" Rudy asked in a whisper, looking nervously at Penny.

"I'm not sure," she replied, kneeling down to inspect the floor. Rudy was confused as to what her intentions were before she replied, "I haven't seen any signs of tracked-in sand here. It's hard to tell if anything has been in here recently." She stood up and looked around, noting that most of the doorways were left ajar, if they still had doors at all. Some of them had faded 'caution' signs painted on them, but as she shone her light beyond the nearest of said doors, she could tell that, like the other rooms, they were empty. Only one of the doors remained closed, she noted as she looked around, and peered inside the room it led to along with the others. She saw that they all led to empty rooms or empty hallways, mentioning it to her friend.

"Maybe we should look up there," Rudy suggested, pointing toward the two staircases, each positioned at a somewhat strange angle and sloping steeply upward to the higher level of the room. They didn't have a very good view of the upper story, and Penny nodded in reply before telling Rudy to use his chalk to reinforce the stairs; they didn't look very stable at all.

After he had done so, they ascended quickly, feeling unnerved at the creaking that the stairs' gave, but they held firm, and Rudy realized that if the creature had used them, they had probably been more stable than they looked.

Once at the top of the stairs, they stood on a small strip of floor that was curved in a semi-circle, meeting a blank gray wall with several doors along it, positioned at regular intervals.

After scanning the multiple doors, the duo wandered through the room until Penny spotted a scattering of sand on the floor surrounding the middle door along the wall. She squinted, noting that the sand had been tracked in. "Look," she whispered, pointing down to the floor as she approached it. Her helmet light illuminated what had caught her attention. "Traces of sand from the desert. The creature must have carried it in…or at least someone did."

"So whatever it was went in here?" Rudy asked, turning his head upward and allowing light from his helmet to stream into the doorway.

"Looks that way," she replied with a curious frown.

They slowly crept inside, but saw only another empty room with a few doorways and a staircase. These doors were actually still intact, and when Rudy and Penny tried them, they were locked. Rudy suggested drawing an opening for them, but Penny reminded him that if they were locked, an animal on four legs wouldn't be able to get through them, so he discarded the idea, knowing their quarry wouldn't be there.

"Rudy…" Penny began with sudden nervousness, glancing to him, "what if the animal we're looking for belongs to someone? I know those footprints at the front of the building led outside, but we can't be sure when they were made…they could have walked around the place before leaving."

He gave a frown, trying to reassure them both. "I don't know," he replied with some measure of steadiness, "but I think if we were walking into a trap, we would have found it by now."

That did seem reasonable, and Penny realized that it was likely that the place was simply abandoned. Apart from sand that had clearly been walked in and other old footprints, there was no sign of anyone there, and it wasn't as if there was much of a place to hide in the rooms when they were so empty.

The staircase led to another locked door, and Rudy and Penny decided to backtrack, realizing they were getting nowhere trying to follow trails of sand that could be far older and useless than they realized. Instead, they decided to search each of the rooms with open doorways that could be easily accessed by the creature, and if they found nothing, they would venture into the locked rooms, just in case it had somehow managed to find a way past the doors.

Starting from the comparatively smaller top floor area, they looked through each room. Although they were empty and easy to search, the sheer number of hallways and turns meant that they had a lot of area to cover. Yet, each time they found nothing. After opening even the locked doors and finding rooms that were similarly empty, as well as inaccessible to anything that didn't have a key or a means to break down the door, they headed down to the lower floor, beginning to search the rooms and hallways there.

After a while, it became clear that keeping track of where they had and hadn't been was difficult. Even Penny was becoming a bit confused. Rudy quickly doodled a small can of spray paint, putting a red mark on the wall near each doorway they looked through.

As time went on, Rudy realized that he and Penny probably didn't have too much longer to look before they would have to get ready to return home. However, both were becoming increasingly convinced that there was no one in the building. Even shouting did not alert the attention of anyone or anything, and Penny again brought up the absence of animal footprints in the sand near the entrance as they rested in a bleak-looking but very large and spacious hallway.

"Well, I think that if this is the animal's home, it's not here now," Penny concluded thoughtfully. "Perhaps it entered the park in search of a new one." She paused and heaved a sigh. "I'm not sure, but it's either that or it hasn't arrived back yet, if this really is its home." She gave her head a little shake. There seemed to be a piece missing from the puzzle.

Rudy nodded, a little unsure himself if Franky had been telling the truth or if he was merely misinformed, or whether he was actually right about the building being the beasts lair and that, for some reason, had changed.

"I'm not sure there's anything else we can do," she mused. "You drew further protection for the park; I'm sure that will be enough." Seeing that he still looked worried and uneasy about the whole thing, she added, "If anything else happens there, we'll definitely look again…but right now we just don't have enough information." She shrugged, signaling obvious futility. "To keep searching seems a little pointless."

He kept his eyes on her and thought for a moment. He tried to devise a rebuttal, but he simply lacked an argument. "All right," he agreed reluctantly. "But we should leave the trap out, in case it comes back."

"I don't know, Rudy," Penny replied, her eyebrows shaping her worry. "Someone innocent could stumble into it, and we don't have time to check the trap frequently."

"Yeah…you're right," he admitted. He looked around the empty husk of the building's room. "Maybe we should check a few more of the locked doors first. We aren't sure this thing can't open locks."

"I guess so," Penny sighed. She was doubtful about the idea, considering the locks that she had examined on the doors looked complex and not easily opened, but she knew that in ChalkZone, it was possible the animal had some sort of ability that they weren't aware of. "But we'd better hurry; we don't have a large amount of time. And we still need to get back to the park to make sure they keep a look out for any more suspicious activity."

"Right," Rudy nodded firmly, walking up to a locked door the two had seen earlier and drawing a long rectangular opening in it with his magic chalk.

**ooo**

Snap had gained no sign of his friends for quite some time, and he was beginning to grow worried. He had no idea what was taking them so long, and he thought they should have found the creature by then. He could hear nothing from within the building from his position in the truck, and that, along with many other things about the situation, was beginning to unnerve him. "I hope they're okay…" he uttered to himself worriedly as he prepared to wait longer. He remembered Penny saying something about when they needed to be back, but he didn't have any way to check the time. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed like the amount of time they were allotted to stay in ChalkZone had past, and if that were true, it was a definite sign that something had gone wrong.

He wasn't sure what could have happened, but knew that it could have been anything from the beast attacking to his friends simply getting lost. Perhaps, he thought, there was something else in there, something more dangerous than this notorious beast, or some other sort of hidden danger. It was possible that they had simply lost track of time, but Snap was not inclined to dismiss potential danger. The trio had a habit of encountering danger no matter what adventure they embarked on, so the possibility for something bad was too high to ignore.

Snap began to think back to a previous adventure the three of them had undertaken, recalling the night they had all been trapped in a large, abandoned building that turned out to be constantly rearranging itself, shifting its interior around and getting them more and more lost. It had also turned out to be extremely dangerous, and in light of the unexpectedness that occurred in that situation, his worry for his two friends grew. He knew that, unlike the time in the building he had recalled, Rudy had his chalk this time, but he knew that that was not always guaranteed protection, especially if something took them by surprise.

He had no way of knowing if any such thing had happened from outside, where he was forced to wait for them. He only knew that, if there was a chance that Franky was wrong about the place, or if he had purposely lied, his friends could have walked into something more dangerous than they realized, and he wondered why it had taken him until they'd been gone for such a long time to consider that viewpoint.

He also realized that, if there was any sort of danger, he was likely the only Zoner around for miles, and though he wasn't sure if going into the building himself was a good idea, he couldn't think of anything else he could do. It had been too long for him to justify staying there and waiting any longer.

Opening the car door and lowering himself down, he peered ahead at the building. There was no sign of any movement from any of its many openings, which Rudy had blocked, but a reminder of the previous building they had traveled through made it clear that any danger might not be obvious.

He carefully approached the building, avoiding the trap he knew rested in the ground in front of the entrance and carefully stepping onto the small steps leading up to the building's main front doors. In spite of the worrisome situation, he couldn't help feeling aggravated that his leg couldn't heal faster.

The inside of the building was silent and eerie, and would have been completely dark were it not for the door opening and several broken windows many yards above Snap's head. Bright rays of desert sunlight filtered through the gloom, illuminating floating dust particles.

As Snap looked around warily, he could make out dozens of doors and several hallways branching off from the room he was standing in, and with a sense of dread, he realized he didn't have much of a chance of finding his friends anytime soon if they weren't able to hear his voice. Knowing he could be drawing attention to himself but proceeding anyway, he shouted his friends' names several times, but there was no response other than the faint echo of his own voice. Despite the fact that the room was bright enough to see, the hallways remained dark, and he had to feel along the walls until he entered an area that was better illuminated.

As Snap wandered through the building, he constantly contemplated calling his friends' names again, but feared that would attract the attention of less friendly ChalkZone dwellers, and instead focused on keeping alert and checking practically every doorway he encountered. Occasionally he would find a double set of fresh shoeprints and find himself relived that he was headed in the correct direction.

Aside from the infrequent lot of footprints, Snap traveled through the hallways without seeing any sign of his friends. One positive thing was that the floor was mostly smooth and fairly easy to walk on, although his leg was aching from repeated use. He had no idea where he was going or if Rudy and Penny had even come down this way; there was no sign of them. Eventually he passed two sets of stairs that were clearly in a bad state which he didn't want to risk climbing for fear that it might collapse, and because he was sure his leg would make it extremely difficult for him to climb, even with his crutch, and was giving him enough grief as it was. More footprints caught his eye which led down the hall and away from the stairs, so he followed them past many doors instead, making sure he briefly checked the rooms they led to.

Suddenly he reached a strange door that looked like it was normally locked, but it appeared to be broken, so he pushed it open. Although the room was fairly empty except a few pieces of large broken furniture, he had a feeling that his friends had been inside. The broken lock must have been them, he thought, as he could see that their shoes had left footprints in the dust. He approached the end of the room and grunted when he found what looked to be a hidden door behind one of the broken fragments of wood. Opening it curiously, he could see that it led down another hallway that was strangely narrow compared to the others, and didn't appear to have many doors. He saw a long door at the end and reassured himself that it was likely his friends had wanted to investigate the same strange difference this door seemed to have from the rest, as he definitely knew they entered the room, so he pressed on and up to the tall door.

He opened the door with minor difficulty to find a room unlike the previous ones he had encountered in the building. The room was not lit, but there was a small window on one wall through which a bit of light filtered, but the glass was so caked with dust that the light was barely illuminating. With this small amount of brightness, he could tell that several other portable light sources had been set up around the room, though at the moment, none were lit. Walking over to one, Snap squinted to make out the switch on its side in the gloom, and flipped it on.

To his surprise, the light flickered on brightly. He had expected it to be dim and flickering if it worked at all, but the light illuminated everything like it was brand new, and for the first time, Snap could get a good look at the room he was standing in.

It was a very strange room that seemed almost small because it was so cluttered. There were rows of tables, many of them looking quite battered, lined up from Snap's end of the room to the other, and each was covered with a variety of objects. As Snap moved closer, he realized that the objects were jars—dozens of them. He approached the nearest table and saw that a row of jars around the center each contained some kind of small insect. He was in awe as he realized that there were all kinds—ones like those typically found in the Real World as well as some not even he had seen in ChalkZone before. There were many of the same kind of insects in the one place and Snap was able to see that each was relatively distinguishable.

As he looked at each one with more focus, he could see that most of them were dead. He wondered if whoever had put them there had forgotten to come and feed them or something, or if they had simply died due to the wrong environment, when he noticed the labels on other jars, which, unlike the ones containing the bugs, weren't clear.

Some of them, however, had small logos or illustrations briefly detailing the contents of the jars, which he was able to easily identify. It came as a shock to him as he figured out that they contained poison. Some was in the form of powder and some liquid, and each spanned a limited range of colors. As he switched back to the insects, he noted that many seemed to be suffering the effects of some poisons or, as he thought they must be, pesticides.

"Well that's not somethin' you see every day," he muttered to himself in shock.

**ooo**

Rudy had peered through the opening he'd created in the thick metal door and had come across a small room completely devoid of anything save for one object. It was an odd sort of rounded machine, almost oval shaped, apart from the flat bottom that allowed it to rest easily on the floor. The machine looked somewhat old, and as Rudy came closer, he noticed a few broken or missing buttons on its control panel.

"Rudy, wait!" Penny warned with a gaze flicking between the contraption and her friend, coming to stand beside him. "We don't know what that thing is."

"Well, it looks like it's shut down," Rudy replied with a sturdy voice, clearly not worried about it starting up and doing something unexpected.

As they looked over the machine, it didn't appear to be anything harmful; in fact, it looked as if it had just been abandoned and left there for some reason the two of them couldn't guess.

"Maybe it's a remnant of the factory that was once inside this place," Penny muttered, having noted along the way that the building had seemed like it had once been a factory or something similar to one, but was now devoid of any machinery.

"It could be…" Rudy examined the buttons on the panel and out of curiosity, pressed a few, but the machine was unresponsive. When he tried again, this time jabbing the buttons in another order, it still made no sign of reacting. Rudy stepped back and glanced to Penny. "I have a feeling that this machine can tell us something about this place…"

Penny looked a little confused. "I don't think this machine has a programmed artificial intelligence interface… Or, at least, it doesn't appear to."

Rudy frowned until he realized what she was talking about. "No, I didn't mean it would actually speak. It just…seems like some sort of clue." After a few moments of pondering, he declared that he was going to fix it. Although Penny did not know if his idea was a good one or not, she pointed out to him that since it had a panel with buttons one was supposed to press, and therefore stand by the machine when it operated, it was likely not dangerous. The boy began to draw different things to try to figure out the machine's problem, but at first only ended with a number of failures.

The brief thought that it could have come from the Dome of the Future entered Rudy's mind, and he was somewhat nervous as he approached the control panel again. He wanted to redraw the buttons, but as he was about to do so, Penny's voice interrupted his concentration.

"Wait a minute, Rudy!" she cried, making him look to her in surprise, clearly not understanding why she suddenly looked worried. "I don't know if redrawing the buttons is a good idea. You don't know what they were originally meant to do. If you redrew them without knowing their function, something could go amiss."

Rudy paused for a second before sighing, "You're right." He pulled his arm away from the machine. He again visually assessed it, but apart from the buttons missing, some of the control panel and wires underneath had been torn at or severed, so he wasn't sure how to fix it or if he even could.

However, after a few more tries, Penny decided to help him try to find a solution. They soon drew the conclusion that there were parts which were missing from the contraption and therefore inhibited its ability to run, and simply had to redraw the missing parts and install them. The other thing he had to do was repair a wire, and took the chance of doodling more buttons in the missing ones' places.

Suddenly the machine whirred to life, and Rudy and Penny stepped back reflexively as a few lights on its dome-like structure lit up. Unsure what was about to happen, they waited in silence before a small compartment in the side of the machine, which had been so well concealed that they hadn't noticed it before, popped open, and a small object rolled out.

Rudy bent down to pick it up as the machine began to sputter as it seemed to fail to produce another one. Rudy pressed the same button as he had before and its production process ground to a halt, although the lights stayed on. Looking at the item in his hand, Rudy realized that it was nothing more than a glass jar. He handed it to Penny, who looked just as perplexed.

"That's odd…" she muttered. "I don't see what this has to do with the criminal we're after..." She thought for a moment, going over the situation in her head and making connections she had not considered before. "It might…it might have something to do with the factories or that "Ironveer," now that I think about it. He didn't want us leaving the park. They obviously wanted to stop Snap and I," she continued. "At the time I thought they were only preoccupied with the fence, but…what if this facility belonged to them too? Or used to?" She took another look at the machine while Rudy pressed the button and another jar came out. "I just really think there's something strange going on."

"I'll say," said Rudy. "It seems like someone was here recently…maybe whoever it was owns the creature and uses this place…" He could not help but give a small smile of excitement. "Wait until Snap hears about this!"

**ooo**

"…Wait till Rudy and Penny find out about this…" Snap said to himself as his gaze traveled around the room. It was obviously some sort of makeshift lab, and as he moved along the rows of tables, it seemed increasingly unprofessional. Many of the tables were filthy, coated in substances he couldn't identify and ensured to steer clear from, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the "experiments" that were being done. From what Snap had heard Penny saying about her science experiments, or what little he actually cared to remember, this was not how one was meant to go about them. It was disorganized and unclear, and there didn't seem to be a group of insects that_ didn't_ have anything done to them. He remembered Penny talking about how the "control group" was always necessary for comparison, but saw none amongst the benches. As far as he could tell, there were only a relative few of the tiny creatures still alive, though many had strange symptoms like extra legs, random discoloration or adjustment to pigmentation, or acted extremely uncharacteristically compared to the others. He couldn't help feeling sorry for them and was tempted to release them from their jars, but the fact that he didn't know if they were dangerous or whether their diseases – if that was what they had – were contagious made him realize that was a bad idea.

Limping away from the tables, he approached the far wall where there was a table that appeared to be used as a makeshift desk. A broken, beaten-looking chair, the only one in the room, was set up against it, and the desk itself was littered with papers and notebooks and several more of the jars with insects. Sitting down on the chair so he could use his good arm, he began to sort through the papers and see if he could find out what on earth that place was. He could tell it had been abandoned for at least a few days, from the thin layer of dust covering the papers, so he wasn't worried about anyone finding him there. The thought that the beast they were following could enter invaded his mind, however, and he was desperate to find his friends. He knew he once he left the "lab," he may not have been able to find his way back, so he had to figure out what was going on; if there was something sinister happening, which he strongly suspected there was, he knew Rudy and Penny would need to know.

Still worried that his friends might be in danger or trapped, Snap skimmed the papers as fast as he could, but most of it seemed to be scribbled nonsense. After about a minute, he was ready to give up and continue his frantic search when he noticed a notebook that seemed somewhat more organized. He flipped through its pages and saw a simple list of numbers, each with the words "perished" or "immune" by it. Sometimes a crude drawing of one of the insects rested beside the figures, followed by another number which he thought, after looking around at some of the other containers that were on the desk with the jars, might be what they were labeling each substance, whatever it was, that they were testing on the bugs.

Nervously he pushed his chair back away from the bottles. After skimming the page and quickly looking at a few more, he concluded that that was probably as much information as he was going to be able to get. He first wondered if the lab must be used to test poisons – maybe some sort of pesticides – on the insects, but the fact that so many had died and yet they were still testing put the theory under an unlikely light.

As he got up to leave, worried he had wasted too much time there, another theory suddenly popped into his head. Thinking back to the document he had read, he started to wonder if they were trying to make them _immune_ to the poisons. He glanced back to the insects in some of the jars and noted that the many dead ones would have been clear failures, and it was possible that there had been a recent breakthrough at the sight of the few which remained alive.

Shuddering at the fairly sickening idea, he quickly headed out of the lab and back the way he'd come. It was obvious that his friends hadn't gone that way.

**ooo**

"I don't think the creature that attacked Alyssa at the park is here," Penny deduced, shaking her head as she and Rudy left the room and began retracing their steps using the marks Rudy had drawn.

"I don't think so either… We would have seen it by now," Rudy grumbled in frustrated manner, clearly disappointed that they search had not upturned any results.

"Or at least some sign of it," Penny agreed.

It wasn't long before they reached the point where Rudy had first started drawing red marks, knowing that they would have to find the remainder of the path to the exit themselves. Neither were worried, as both were fairly sure they remembered the way and Rudy could use his chalk to help them escape if it came to that.

Making their way down the first staircase and out to a hallway they knew was near the exit, the two stopped suddenly as they heard a voice echoing from somewhere deeper into the building. At first Rudy tensed and his heart rate quickened, wondering if there was something there after all, before he realized that the voice was Snap's, and confusion marked by a frown replaced his alarm.

"Snap?" Penny cried, just as surprised. When there was no sudden response, she whirled to Rudy with interested eyes. "What's he doing here?" In her voice was obvious concern, which Rudy largely reflected.

"I don't know," Rudy began, already hurriedly heading in the direction of Snap's voice as he broke into a jog-like run. "But we'd better find him!"

As they sped in the direction the sound had come from, Penny quickly checked her watch, realizing with alarm that she and Rudy had been in the building for longer than she'd thought. They would definitely need to start heading to the park soon so that they could then return home, and she decided to share the information with Rudy once they had reunited with Snap. In the meantime, they got lost a few times while trying to find their friend.

As she looked up, her eyes widened in alarm as she noticed, up ahead, a gaping hole where the floor of the hallway was meant to be. Her shock was fairly sudden, as she was sure that this hole had not been there the first time. It was then that she realized that they had come a completely different way, and it dawned on her just how easy it was to get lost.

"Rudy!" she shouted, but Rudy, who was a few paces ahead of her, had already stopped, only just noticing the hole amidst the darkness, as the helmets they were wearing had not been able to illuminate it until they were standing only a few feet away.

"He couldn't have gone this way," Rudy determined, leaning out over the edge a little and peering downward, seeing nothing but the faint outlines of broken pieces of metal. He realized that, due to the echoes and their absence of a previous encounter with the opening, that they went the wrong way in the first place. He suddenly hoped that they weren't lost; though he could easily use the chalk to get them out, it would still make finding Snap difficult, especially if he was not nearby.

They turned around and doubled back, taking a different route through a small room and ending up in a big area that proved to Rudy just how massive the place was. The idea entered his mind to draw a homing bacon in order to find Snap, and he was just about to do so before he heard his name being called again and his friend appeared in one of the doorways on the other side of the room.

"Rudy? Penny?" he gasped, surprise crossing his face as he noticed the two of them standing rigidly on the other side of the room.

"Snap, what are you doing here?" Rudy questioned, giving Snap a relieved smile as he crossed the room toward him, glad that a high-set window gave the place some light. As he and Penny approached, however, they could see that Snap did not look nearly as relieved as they did, even though it was clear that neither of his friends were harmed.

Rudy furrowed his brow. "What's wrong?" he asked as he reached him. Before the blue and white Zoner responded, however, Rudy remembered that he and Penny had not exactly been fast, and decided that his friend was owed an explanation. "We didn't mean to be gone so long," he hurriedly began, but was cut off there.

"Rudy, there's somethin' back there I think you need to see," Snap explained immediately, seemingly not interested in Rudy's reasons for spending longer than he thought he would. A seed of concern planted itself in his mind. "Somethin' really weird's goin' on here." Snap indicated the hallway he came out of, and Rudy and Penny gave each other glances of curiosity with a tad of worry.

"We don't have a lot of time…" Penny reminded them apprehensively, but she could tell by the look on Snap's face that whatever it was, it had clearly worried him, and she decided to save the details of the time they had left until after their investigation.

Rudy nodded before looking back at Snap, who looked completely worn out. He wasn't sure how long he had been searching the building, but he knew that with how much they had been walking earlier, he would be definitely be tired. He thought about suggesting for him to wait for them while they investigated, but he knew that Snap would probably be worried if they went alone again, especially given they had just split up.

As they began to make their way to the room Snap directed them towards, Rudy decided to draw them a quickly-constructed three-person scooter to make it both easier for his friend, and quicker, as he was aware of the withering time.

Rudy and Penny weren't sure what to expect when they came upon the room, but after they dismounted the scooter and helped Snap to the entrance, what they saw when they pushed past the door and into the room Snap had discovered certainly wasn't it. The two stared in shocked disbelief, and Rudy shook his head, not even sure what he was looking at. "What is all this stuff doing here?" he cried, gesturing to the rows of tables while the other two looked around nervously.

Penny walked down the row of tables at a reasonably slow pace, examining each as Snap gave his friends a brief explanation of what he had found, but left the majority of it unmentioned for them to find out by reading the study notes themselves. Angling toward the desk, Penny made her way over to it, Snap and Rudy following her. They watched as she picked up the notebook Snap had been looking at before and laid eyes on him, her eyebrows drawn in caution. Rudy frowned a little in interest and stood beside her, tilting his head to read the words on the page. Simultaneously their eyes widened, and Snap watched with expectation as their faces grew spots of horror.

"They're testing these…poisons…on these insects…" Penny breathed in disbelief, setting it down and quickly looking through the other notes.

"Why the heck are they doing that?" Rudy demanded, shocked by the finding. He glanced to the many jars on the nearby tables and watched them in disgust.

"I don't know…" Penny whispered, pointing suddenly at some of the entries. "Perished…not immune?" She looked up at Snap in confusion.

"I think they were experimenting on them to try an' make them immune to those pesticides," Snap offered in a serious tone, indicating the jars containing what was clearly some sort of poison.

His friends stared between him, the jars on the tables, and the book on the desk before them. Rudy turned to Penny. "What do you think, Penny? It sounds to me like Snap's right…"

"Yes, that…that has to be right," she said, her eyes still on the notes. She set it down as soon as something else popped into her view, under the desk. "Look here!" She held out another small notebook that caught Snap's attention as well as Rudy's; based on his reaction, Penny could tell that Snap had not seen it in his brief excursion earlier. It was just a series of sloppy, illegible notes, which neither of them had time to read before Penny continued, "Whoever is using this place is testing each insect with more than one substance. I think they are trying to see if some sort of cure or antidote they've invented worked…but I'm not sure why they'd be trying multiple on the same insect. Their way of conducting this experiment doesn't make any sense. They clearly don't have much of an idea of what they're doing if they haven't even-"

"Penny, I think we should go," Rudy began, realizing as well that they were running out of time. "I don't think anyone's been here for days, but…" He glanced around at the many jars holding poisons in them. "I have a bad feeling about this." He gestured to the containers. "Maybe we should get rid of these."

"Get rid of them how?" Penny asked, understanding his urgency and reluctantly leaving the desk. He looked lost for words at her question. "We don't have any Real World water, and I'm not exactly sure where we'd take all these jars where they wouldn't be able to harm anyone."

"An incinerator?" Rudy proposed, knowing the idea was not exactly ideal. Penny only shook her head.

"We don't know how it would react with the fire…and we don't have much time, Rudy; we can't really do anything about this now," she shrugged.

"Maybe we should alert the police about this?" Snap wondered, thinking that, given they were tight for time and they had no real way to know how to dispose of it, warning the authorities about it would be the most appropriate thing to do. As well as being able to discard the poison, he thought that perhaps it would stop the experiments on the insects as well.

"Yes," Penny agreed, nodding as he mentioned the other points, "that seems like the best idea." Even while knowing what the experimenter's vague goal was, the whole situation didn't make a lot of sense, and like Rudy, she also had a bad feeling about it.

As Snap again glanced about the room, he felt a swirling mess of unpleasantness gather in his gut. He held his bottom lip between his teeth and scanned his eyes over the jars again, spotting something similar to a fist-sized cricket scrambling at the side of the container it was trapped inside. He cringed as he noted that three of its legs oozed green liquid, knowing that it was unnatural. Suddenly he flinched at the sound of a faded scream, something freakishly similar to a voice he would hear come from one of his friends, and witnessed it ricochet violently off the walls of the jar before falling still, upside-down, on the floor of the container.

He glanced to Rudy and Penny, who had clearly watched the same ordeal take place, and who were equally in shock. The bad feeling in his stomach had every right to be there; the whole laboratory was frightening, eerie and overall _wrong_. He found himself glancing to the entrance of the room in fear of somebody suddenly walking in and seeing them. He would feel trapped, and realized that he was more afraid of being experimented on than being attacked on the spot. The fact that the lab held many doses of poison was sickening enough, and the idea of being exposed to any of them against his will made him feel dizzy. If his friends could spare more time in ChalkZone, and if they had any idea how to shut the laboratory down, then he was sure they would do it. The police could certainly handle it, and if nothing else, they could put a stop to the horrific experiments taking place. If insects were the subjects now, Snap could only begin to imagine what the pseudo-scientist would experiment on next.

"Come on," Rudy began, snapping his friend out of his trance, "we need to get to the park."

Penny and Snap nodded, and the three began to make their way to the exit. As wrong as it felt to leave such equipment set up, and the innocent insects trapped, they knew that messing with the experiment's ingredients and subjects was not a good idea, especially with little enough time to reach the park and then return home.

Penny's mind turned as she went over the details of the notes she had found, wishing there was some way that they could help the situation further. "This doesn't add up!" she growled in frustration, catching the attention of her friends. "What about the creature that attacked Alyssa? We found nothing about it here…"

"Yeah…" Rudy mused as he too considered it.

"Something's not right here," Snap added suspiciously.

Once back outside, they got back in Rudy's vehicle and headed in the direction of Canyon Park. "Penny," began Rudy, "how much time do we have to stop at the park before we go back? While we're there, I want to ask Alyssa a few more questions."

"I think we have enough time if we make it quick, but, Rudy, I think she's told us all she can," Penny replied.

"I just have some things in mind," he concluded, and Penny gave a sigh and nodded.

"We should hurry."

With that in mind, Rudy sped up, following the tracks they'd previously made in the sand over the flat, dusty landscape.

**ooo**

Only a few minutes later, they came to the park. Rudy stopped the car in the first parking space he could see and he and Penny got out, keeping in mind that they didn't have much time. He advised Snap, who had walked around so much that his leg was whining at him with pain, to stay in the car while they spoke to Alyssa and checked the park's fortifications. The blue and white Zoner, however, was not so keen on remaining behind and insisted that he accompany them.

The toucan manning the entry booth gave a startled squawk when Rudy and Penny hurried past the line of Zoners and into the park, also earning many shouts and grumbles of disapproval.

"Excuse me! Sorry…" Rudy quickly muttered to the Zoners as he passed, and Penny gave the toucan an apologetic glance paired with a shrug.

Ruffling his feathers, the colorful bird watched as Snap gave him a sheepish grin before edging inside after his friends. He was nearly stopped by a Zoner with abnormally large muscles, but his condition presumably changed the Zoner's mind. The toucan, unable to reach Snap to stop him, crossed his feathered arms as he glared at the three of them venturing farther away. "How rude. Aark!"

Before coming to the tunnel, they veered off into the open area containing the lot of stands, along with crowds of tourists and visitors. They weaved their way toward the bookstand, but upon spotting it, they realized that this time, the Zoner working there was an anteater.

"Excuse me," Penny began, running up to him and panting between words, "do you know where Alyssa is?"

"She's over there," he directed, pointing a claw toward the area where the tunnel was and the trails began, which, from their point of view, was partially blocked by boulders. As the anteater salesman began asking if she wanted to buy a book, Penny raced back over to her friends. "Sorry, maybe another time!" she called back.

"Wait," Snap began, and his friends turned to witness his tired, wilting form. He cringed a little. "This pill's takin' a while to kick in…"

"Do you want to wait here while we go to see Alyssa?" Rudy asked, concerned for his friend. "We'll be right back for you."

Snap considered his words before nodding. "Yeah, I better. Just don't take too long."

"We won't!" he reassured as he and Penny left, breaking into a run.

As they passed through the tunnels, earning odd looks from Zoners who had seen them cut through the line at the park's entrance, they could see the neck of a large dinosaur-like creature raise above the rocks. They thought that a tour must have been about to start.

They passed one tour group and went around a collection of boulders to see another open area where several large dinosaurs were gathered, each very brightly colored and looking as if they had been drawn by artists of various skill. Around the dinosaurs was a humanoid Zoner with blonde hair, who was tending to one of the creatures' legs with an oversized bandage. A smile was stretched across her face: Alyssa.

"Alyssa!" Rudy called as he and Penny raced toward her, and the Zoner's attention was fully on them by the time they reached her.

"Oh, it's you two again," she said, trying to sound cheery but was obviously a little nervous. "I'm working my normal job with the dinosaurs now. They said I wasn't allowed to run the book stand anymore… But that's okay. This is what I'm good at." She gave a small smile and scanned the group, a light frown touching her face. "Is your friend okay? Did you take him to a hospital? I know he was very unwell!"

"Uh…yeah," Rudy stated, having only just remembered her reaction to Snap earlier in the day. He was glad that Snap had stayed back at the bookstand for this reason; they didn't have much time and he didn't want to go through the previous conversation about Snap needing a hospital again. Trying to dismiss her concern, he answered, "He's okay."

"Okay?" she replied, sounding probably more shocked than Rudy deemed necessary, but not more shocked than he had expected. "He's in a _hospital_. Of course he's not okay!" He and Penny held their breaths as the Zoner began to ponder. "You know, maybe I should visit him-"

"NO!" Rudy shouted, frustration getting the better of him as he slapped his hand over his forehead. He gritted his teeth so hard that he thought they might shatter, but tried to suppress his anxiousness as he exhaled slowly, reminding himself not to take his stress for time out on others…even if they were irritating. "I mean…he doesn't need visitors," he quickly corrected himself.

"He…needs to rest," Penny continued, stepping in to add to Rudy's argument. Alyssa paused for a second to think, and then seemed satisfied with the answer, but was still obviously worried. "I promise, he will be all right. Now, we wanted to ask you some things regarding the incident when you were attacked."

"Yeah," Rudy began, "we found someone who knew where this creature was hidden. This Zoner led us to its lair, but…we didn't find any sign of any sort of creature like what you described. But we found something else."

Penny nodded, and gave the confused Zoner a quick description of what she had found in the lab, watching nervously as small crowd of Zoners ready to go on a tour lined up near where the dinosaurs, who were attached to large but comfortable-looking carts, were waiting. "He also said this creature attacked Zoners in the factory recently," she finished. Alyssa looked confused, as if she wasn't sure what to think. "Is there anything more you can tell us about this creature?" Penny asked. "Anything you might have—"

"Wait a minute…" the blonde Zoner started. "It couldn't have attacked the factories." At her words, Rudy and Penny blinked several times. The Zoner remained silent for a few moments longer, giving the two friends time to convey their confusion to one another through their expressions. "Serilda makes sure _no one_ gets in. There's a twenty five foot electric fence around it," she continued, raising her eyebrows as if a little impressed by it herself. "And the animal…well, I saw it moving about in the dark. It didn't have any climbing abilities. It couldn't even stand upright on its back legs. It didn't have digging abilities either… I even saw it struggle a bit where the sand was deep in the cave." She adopted a harder frown, relatively quizzical. "Are you sure he didn't mean a different creature?"

"Wait…what?" Rudy stammered, and as he went through the information in his mind, he could only draw one possible conclusion. He glanced to Penny, who was obviously thinking the same thing. It suddenly dawned on him that Franky had been lying to them the entire time. For what purpose he could only begin to guess, but he was nearly positive that the squirrel Zoner had nothing to do with the building or the lab, or he would not have led them there. The creature certainly was not behind what they found in the laboratory if it wasn't even capable of standing upright or using its forelegs like human limbs. He considered that Franky could have merely been mistaken, but he had seemed so sure of the location that Rudy had to admit it seemed far more like a lie… There had been no uncertainty in Franky's directions; he had wanted to lead them away for a reason. But did that mean…the creature they were tracking had something to do with the factories?

"You mean to tell us that this was the only attack…anywhere near here?" Penny began worriedly. "Including the factories?"

"If something did attack the factories, the staff at the park would have heard about it," Alyssa continued with a shrug. "If there's any trouble, they always assume it came from us first."

"This doesn't make any sense…" Rudy muttered, and Alyssa only looked more worried.

"Do you think it might come back?" she asked and stepped forward in some display of minor desperation.

"We…don't know," Rudy admitted, wishing he had a more substantial answer. "We didn't find any trace of it." When he saw that the Zoner was clearly concerned, and so much so that she might have been constantly bothered by it, he made an effort to put her mind at ease. "But I made it harder for anything to get into the park this time, so it shouldn't bother you again." At least, he thought, if it couldn't climb or dig, the reinforcements he drew would likely work. How it got in the cave in the first place was still a mystery, but he was at least a little reassured by the fact that it hadn't caused much damage.

"Well…okay…" Alyssa responded quietly. She turned to look at the dinosaurs, craning her neck, and then glanced at the line of Zoners. "I need to start the tour now, but if you or your friend needs any help, I could-"

"No, he's fine," Penny replied, shaking her head. "We need to go now anyway." She glanced to her watch to pretend to check it, despite knowing already what the time was. Her gaze traveled to the dinosaurs as well. She noticed that several of them had bandaged limbs or necks, remembering Alyssa had been applying some when they first spotted her, and she turned to the Zoner curiously. "Did…any of them get hurt in the attempted attack?" she asked.

"No," Alyssa replied casually, glancing up at them, "at least…I don't think so. I saw some of them scratching their legs and nibbling on some scales and thought it might be a wound, so I put some bandages on just in case. I thought I should probably carry them around with me from now on." She smiled as she met one of the prehistoric animals' eyes. "You can never have enough bandages!"

Penny just sighed and shook her head, feeling that it was useless to argue. At least the dinosaurs didn't seem to mind, and as Alyssa walked back over toward them, they responded in an excited, enthusiastic manner. Rudy and Penny watched with a bit of surprise as she began to order them into a line with ease, impressed by the fact that they obeyed her commands without hesitance or confusion. They had almost expected her to be a little incompetent, but she appeared to have a solid bond with them that was as powerful as any between a master and their pet.

After they slipped away as she started the trail, they joined with Snap again at the bookstand and headed back to their plane.

**ooo**

After arriving back in the restored section ChalkZone City, which they currently walked through, they had informed the police of what they found and were assured that they would investigate. Realizing that there wasn't much else they could do, the three had reluctantly come to accept that, whatever was behind what had happened the previous day, they weren't going to find out without more information. In the end, they had figured the events were probably unrelated after all, and hoped that the police could successfully take care of the robot suspect they had been pursuing in the jungle. Snap was still irked that he was unable to do anything more about the laboratory and its experiments, but forced himself to be content with the police taking matters into their hands.

"We need to be getting back," Penny told Rudy worriedly. "My mom wanted us back by dinnertime…and we've only got a few minutes," she added, looking to her friend with alarm.

"No sweat," he told her with a smile, although not having fully realized they were cutting it so close. He glanced toward Snap with a little uncertainty. "Uh…do you want me to take you back to your house really quick before we go?"

Snap shook his head dismissively. "It's okay. I can get there myself. But, uh, I wouldn't mind gettin' there some way that isn't on foot, so I'll hail a cab."

"Okay," Rudy replied, pausing to glance down a few streets toward the part of the city that wasn't yet completely cleared up. He knew there was still a lot of work to do to fully rebuild the city, even though a lot of progress had already been made. He turned away after a moment, remembering how urgent it was that he and Penny got to the portal. He knew that Snap would likely be able to find transportation in the city himself, so after saying goodbye to his friend, he and Penny climbed up the small metal staircase leading to the roof of the building by the police station which held a helipad and was where they had landed their plane.

They hadn't gotten halfway up when they heard screaming. Rudy immediately frowned and turned toward the sound, as did Penny, but though he could see a few Zoners running, he could not tell what it was that had spooked them. He conveyed his confusion to his friend, who also looked about and was unable to find the source of the disruption, and both suddenly felt wary.

"What was that?" Penny questioned, although she knew Rudy did not have an answer."

Nevertheless, his determination to seek one was clear. "I don't know, but we better find out... It might have been something bad."

Hurriedly they ran up the rest of the stairs, their shoes hammering the metal as their minds swarmed with possibilities, and finally reached the top. Rudy stood on the roof's edge, and as he cast his eye out across the parts of the city he could see from where he was, he spotted something rather startling.

Swarming at one end of a nearby street and heading toward a crowd of Zoners was a cluster of airborne creatures that he had never seen before. He could tell Penny had spotted them as well, as she too froze beside him. The incessant buzzing their wings created almost unnerved him, and as he stared at them from where he was, he could see that they were not simple a group of Zoners wishing to pass through.

He could not see them clear enough to identify them from where he was, but he knew that whatever those things were, they did not seem harmless. He wasn't sure what they were capable of, and as much as he didn't want to find out, he knew he couldn't simply leave ChalkZone at a time like this. Unfortunately, going back to the Real World would have to wait.


	4. Heated Pursuit

**Cryptic Infiltration**

**Chapter Four – Heated Pursuit**

Rudy felt himself freeze in shock as he watched the strange group of creatures, whose forms he couldn't yet accurately identify at the distance, move closer toward the area of the city he and his friends, not to mention several civilians, were currently standing in. On top of the roof where they'd landed their plane, Rudy and Penny had a good view of their surroundings, and more specifically, the threat. The street the animals were coming from was a small side street lined with tiny shops, ending in a roped off area that led to a part of the city that had not yet been repaired. Rudy was sure that had to be the reason no one had seen them until now, as the winged animals had obviously reached their current location by traveling through the incomplete, and at the moment, abandoned, area. Penny and Rudy turned to each other in shock, realizing that whatever those things were, it was clear from the Zoners' reactions that they were not harmless.

Rudy was about to dash back to the plane when he realized that, since the creatures were flying low, not even elevated enough to reach the height of the buildings, the aircraft would be far too difficult to maneuver if they tried to confront them in the streets. Rudy quickly ignited the rockets on his shoes and landed on the pavement beside Snap, while Penny climbed down the building's ladder. As Rudy glanced to her, he suddenly wished he'd brought a spare piece of chalk for her to use, and he'd used up too much of the one piece he'd brought with him to be able to break it in half. Worriedly, he turned to Snap, who was watching the scene with an expression of disbelief.

"Where did those things come from?" his blue and white friend cried, and Rudy could only wonder the same thing.

"Snap, get inside!" Penny called, gesturing to the police station building nearby, which seemed like it would be the safest place to be in the area. With his injuries, Snap was sure to be a target for the creatures if they were prone to attacking Zoners they encountered, which seemed likely, considering the reaction the city dwellers in the side-street had shown. Snap hesitated for a moment, but then reluctantly nodded and hurried as fast as he could into the building. While he did so, Rudy quickly drew rockets on Penny's shoes so that at least she could keep a look out from the air, or make a quick escape, even if she did not have the chalk herself.

Though several Zoners were running from the side street in a panic, some ducking into larger shops and others trying to leave in their cars or on foot, Rudy's first concern was stopping the creatures themselves. As they neared, still moving at a fairly leisurely pace, he could tell they were a swarm of some sort of dragonfly-like insect. At the sight of them, he momentarily thought back to another time when insects had ravaged ChalkZone City, when Bob Newland's termites invaded and destroyed a large portion of it. He had a moment of terror, thinking for one heart-stopping second that Newland had ignored his warning and decided to attack ChalkZone again, before he realized that the dragonflies were clearly not drawn in Newland's professional, detailed style, and he managed to relax a bit. This wasn't anywhere near that level of disaster, and he had protected the city from things much worse than this in the past.

Using the rockets on their shoes to take to the air, Rudy and Penny darted toward the group of dragonflies, which surprisingly still did not seem to be moving at a fast pace, instead grouping together in a cluster and moving determinedly down the street. Penny gave them a worried look as they approached, wondering what could cause them to act so oddly, or if this species normally behaved that way. Rudy was wondering the same thing when the dragonflies suddenly broke formation and zoomed off in different directions. Penny let out a cry of fright as one sped right toward her, but luckily it missed as she swerved out of the way. For the first time, the two children got a good look at them. They were each simply-drawn, foot-long electric blue dragonflies with bright yellow wings and legs, and very large orange eyes. Each one's body was covered with jagged orange stripes, and as Rudy quickly glanced over a few coming his way, the patterns on each seemed to be different.

Rudy had been drawing a net large enough to stretch across the street while they had been approaching as a group, and he hurriedly finished it just as a small group of them zipped his way, managing to back away just as they approached. As the net formed, the fibers it was made of stayed nearly invisible, as he had intended, and the insects flew straight into it without noticing the trap, immediately becoming entangled. "It worked!" Rudy shouted in triumph, but his elation was short lived as he noticed the number of insects that had evaded the net completely, either by flying too high or heading in other directions before they reached it, and were now swarming to different locations, some of them landing on the roofs of buildings and others going after the few Zoners who remained near the area.

Knowing that the citizens being chased were of the most immediate concern, Rudy and Penny used their rockets to propel themselves toward them, but they hadn't gone far before a bright burst of light behind them prompted them to turn around, and they watched in numb shock as the net Rudy had drawn went up in flames.

"What?" Rudy cried, clearly shocked as he momentarily froze, unable to comprehend what had happened.

He darted to the side as one of the creatures neared him, spurting a stream fire at him from its mouth. He swerved out of the way, feeling the searing sensation of heat on his back as he maneuvered himself higher into the air and out of range, watching in dismay as the fire caught on a large umbrella overlooking a table in front of a restaurant. At the same time, Penny had to quickly duck into an alleyway to avoid an attack from another of the beasts.

Rudy's eyes widened and for a moment he nearly froze in shock again as he realized that the creatures were lighting everything they touched on fire with the flames they spurted from their mouths. They seemed to be drawn to anything flammable, setting signs, buildings, and decorative plants and trees aflame before moving on. Remembering the Zoners, he quickly returned to Penny, glad that at least most of the monsters seemed distracted, and they both hurriedly darted toward the cries sounding from the city Zoners through the air.

His head turned toward the sound of a group of them trying to flee – a small family of stick figures who had only had time to quickly duck into a small shop before the large dragonflies sped toward them. Gritting his teeth, he headed toward them, seeing Penny hurry off in another direction, though he couldn't tell what had caught her attention, and there was no time for him to look. As he flew, he quickly began to sketch out a fire extinguisher, as it was the first thing that came to his mind, but before he could complete the drawing, both of the insects threatening to follow the stick figures into the shop turned around toward him instead.

Rudy just managed to halt in midair and jerk himself backwards as the two brightly colored insects launched bright plumes of flame at him. Luckily, the range of their attacks didn't seem to be more than a few yards, and Rudy managed to avoid any injury as he darted to the left, losing his balance for a moment before righting himself and watching the two creatures zoom toward him.

Turning in another direction, his first thought was to head away from the populated part of the city and lead the creatures with him, into the incomplete area where the damage from Newland's termites was still fairly extensive. He knew it was far more unlikely that any Zoners would be wandering about there, and if anything, at least he'd give the ones back in the city some time to escape.

He zipped toward the end of the street the dragonflies had first come from, where, beyond the smoldering shops, he could see the cleared out husks of buildings still showing severe damage from the attack on ChalkZone City a month ago. He heard the buzz of the creatures' wings behind him and took to flying in a zigzag motion to make it harder for his winged pursuers to find their target. A couple times he felt the heat of their flames when they came far too close for comfort, but he was still out of range enough to avoid being singed. He was rapidly approaching the end of the street, where several signs and a makeshift fence covered in police tape blocked off the city's damaged area. Hearing the sound of the dragonflies close behind him, he put on a panicked burst of speed and rocketed toward the signs.

However, to his shock, the moment he passed the barrier, the two dragonflies stopped their frantic chase, instead slowing to hover in midair at a complete standstill. He could still hear the dull hum from their wing vibrations as they held still and seem to contemplate him for a moment, their large eyes staring straight at him and his surroundings. Then they turned and headed back the way they'd come, right back to the rebuilt part of the city were the Zoners were.

"_No!_" Rudy cried in panic, his heart racing. He had no idea what had made the insects turn around, but it was hardly the time to dwell on that. Kicking his rocket shoes into action, he zoomed back down the street, noting with alarm that the fires were spreading. He hesitated, thinking about the Zoners in danger and wondering if he could even afford to spare any valuable seconds to put out the flames, before hearing a shout up ahead and reminding himself that he didn't have much time at all; if he was going to do something, he needed to do it fast.

Knowing that he couldn't allow the fire to grow and spread, he quickly lowered himself toward the ground, but kept his rockets activated so he hovered a few inches above. Leaning toward the ground and working as quickly as he could, he sketched the rough shape of what he designed to be a sort of gigantic sprinkler. As soon as he finished, it activated, the water shooting skyward many feet into the air and drenching him and the surrounding buildings. He darted away from it, briefly afraid that the water would put out the fire in his rocket shoes, but he managed to clear the area without any such incident. He couldn't see any of the dragonflies in the street any longer, but that only made his worry grow, knowing that they were further up the next street, around where the police station and several frightened Zoners were.

As soon as he emerged from the small side street, the scene that met him on the main road was one of chaos. All around him he could see Zoners hiding worriedly behind the glass doors of small buildings, others trying to reach shelter, and some of the police officers attempting to fight back against the creatures as other members of the city's police force focused on trying to put out the fires the best they could. Rudy thought to draw another gigantic sprinkler, but the knowledge that it would obscure the officers' vision enough to make them unable to fight back against the onslaught made him hesitate. He would need to come up with a different plan while the dragonflies were still in the area.

Looking around, he could see a fire hydrant positioned a few buildings from the large police headquarters building, and darted toward it, knowing the Zoners didn't have time to wait for firefighters to arrive. He looked around warily for any approaching enemies, but at the moment, the police Zoners trying to drive the creatures away seemed to be holding their attention well enough, and that gave Rudy a bit of time. As soon as he'd finished drawing a large hose that attached to the hydrant, he heard someone shout to him.

"Rudy!" a voice cried, and his head shot up. He turned to see Penny, who looked out of breath and shaken but otherwise unharmed, land beside him, looking a bit shocked. "I led some of the Zoners to a shop basement away from here…I think they're in a safe location, but Rudy, those dragonflies have started spreading around to the larger buildings further into the city."

"_What?_" he cried, staring at her in horror as he worked to turn the water on. The thought that the situation was already out of control frightened him, and he didn't have the time to stop and think of a decent plan. His worry for the Zoners of the city grew, and he glanced to Penny fearfully, hoping the police in their current location could handle the remaining dragonflies well enough by themselves. "Here," he stated, handing her the hose, "try and put out the fires and help any Zoners you can! I'm going to go and see what I can do to stop those things!"

Penny clearly wasn't pleased with the idea of him going off alone – she looked quite concerned – but it was clear to both of them that, with only one piece of chalk between them, Penny wouldn't be able to draw anything new to help him further on, but she _could_ stay there and operate the fire hose. "A-all right," she stated uncertainly.

Rudy nodded and took off, rising above the surrounding buildings to get a better view of the state of things further on. Seeing a group of the insects swarming a large building a ways to his left, he swerved around towards it, trying to think of anything that could possibly stop the creatures, or at least render them harmless for a time. He had little time to think, but he knew that since they were fire creatures, they might not take too kindly to water, and if anything, it would likely at least deter or distract them, and he quickly doodled up a large and powerful water gun.

As soon as it formed, he realized that it was quite heavier than he'd expected, mainly due to the volume of water inside. Luckily, he managed to hold onto it before it slipped from his grip and plummeted to the street below, and did so almost just as the dragonflies that were now fairly close to him became aware of his presence. As the first one zipped closer, Rudy fired a high-pressure stream of water at the insect, and to his relief, it faltered quite a bit in the air upon impact, dropping a few feet before regaining its flight pattern and darting out of range of the weapon, seeming highly agitated. Rudy couldn't help but find the situation the smallest bit amusing, considering Real World dragonflies were drawn to water.

But his relief was short lived as he realized that he'd used up quite a bit of the water supply in his weapon with one shot; he simply couldn't draw a water gun large enough to hold a sufficient amount of water for a repeated onslaught that wouldn't be too heavy for him to carry. As the remainder of the group of insects, about five of the creatures, ascended and then dove toward him, he shrieked, firing the last of the water at the nearest one, but it fell tragically short and he was forced to drop downwards in order to flee, ducking around the side of the building, letting the now useless water gun fall from his grasp.

His eye caught sight of a small balcony covered in a variety of strange-looking ChalkZone plants, and instinctively he darted toward it, landing behind a large clay pot that housed a plant that was growing whistles. He caught his breath, hoping he'd have some time to rest and with any luck, to come up with a better plan.

He flinched as he heard the steady, almost mechanical-sounding hum from the dragonflies' wings as several flashed past his hiding place, one sending a bright burst of flame in the balcony's direction as it sped by, but luckily it only ignited a few plants opposite from where Rudy was hiding.

He crouched down lower as one dragonfly flew past from the opposite direction, but to his relief the creatures soon seemed to lose interest, and flew off in different directions without bothering to continue looking for him. He then realized that only meant they would be able to find more buildings or worse, Zoners, to attack, and he wracked his brain for any sort of idea on how to stop them. Thinking back to earlier that day, he remembered the sleeping gas idea he'd had before they had entered the abandoned building Franky had showed them, and he quickly sketched out a device like similar to it that he hoped would work and make the creatures too drowsy to cause any more damage. He glanced to the now smoldering plants on the other side of the balcony, glad that at least the flames had died down instead of spreading, helped by the fact that one of the plants seemed to be growing water balloons.

Rudy then thought to draw a gas mask, knowing he certainly couldn't afford to fall asleep himself. However, just as he thought it, he heard the humming sound of wings and a bright light of fire out of the corner of his eye, making him leap from his hiding place into the air and against the opposite railing of the balcony as the entire half of it, including the hiding place he'd been crouching in just moments before, was shrouded in flame.

Still holding his newly drawn device, and knowing he was in plain sight, he looked upward at the group of three dragonfly creatures that now were staring at him with their large segmented eyes. He darted higher into the air as one moved toward him with startling swiftness, thankfully missing him as it fired a blast of flame in his direction. Now hovering away from the balcony, Rudy readied his improvised weapon and aimed it at the dragonfly, whose wings were humming above the wooden railing which was now crackling with flame. He fired the pod of sleeping gas at it, which struck the creature and burst, filling the area with a thin blue haze. Yet instead of falling asleep, the large bug only appeared somewhat disoriented, and to Rudy's shock, he found that he was starting to get drowsy himself. He shook his head, feeling the effects worsen at an alarming rate, and realized he had no choice but to move back and drop the device, thinking regretfully that if he'd had time to draw the gas mask, he could have used it effectively.

As his attention was drawn to the building that now had flames crawling up its sides, Rudy frantically tried to think of other options, but his thoughts were soon interrupted as the small group of the winged insects focused on him, and he knew that the only thing he had time for at the moment was to avoid getting burned alive.

**ooo**

Penny was rapidly growing more worried, as it was becoming clear, from what little she could see of the chaos further down the street as she attempted to put out the fires, that the creatures were much harder to stop than she'd first anticipated, mainly due to their speed and sheer numbers. At the least, she thought, the police were able to keep most of the ones in that area occupied without getting close enough to be injured themselves, though Penny had had to fend off a few on her own with the water. Luckily, it had worked well enough, and that was all she could ask for at the moment, needing her attention to be focused on her task at hand, putting out the fires on the building. As she quickly glanced down the side street where Rudy had drawn his giant sprinkler, she was relieved to see that the flames in that direction had gone out, but the sprinkler was sputtering, the water only a fraction as high as it had had been before. Pushing the thought from her mind, she focused again, wishing there were others to help her and unable to keep worry for Rudy and the city Zoners' sake from entering her thoughts.

Snap, meanwhile, couldn't see Penny as he peered through the glass doors in the Police Station's entrance. The thought that his both of his friends, and an unknown number of city dwellers, were in the middle of something so chaotic and dangerous greatly worried him, and he could only find some amount of comfort in trying to see if Penny would be all right.

Suddenly he felt a hand roughly grab his shoulder – luckily not the one belonging to his injured arm – and pull him back toward the group of other Zoners who were also taking shelter in the building. "Hey!" Snap shouted, turning so he could look over his shoulder at the Zoner holding him, a large ape-like creature. He attempted to pull away, but his efforts were useless. "What's the big idea? Let me go!"

"Stay away from the window!" the larger Zoner hissed, shoving him toward the small, scared cluster of Zoners who didn't dare move away from their possible exit in case of a fire or an attack from another direction. It was also their only means of seeing what was going on, and they watched the glass doors anxiously from a distance. "You want them to come in here?"

Snap took a moment to regain his balance before shooting a glare at the panicked Zoner who'd forced him away from the doors. "They ain't payin' attention to us in here!" he retorted, but even as he said it he realized the argument was pointless. Other Zoners and his friends were still clearly in danger, and he looked toward the doors nervously. He was pretty sure that Rudy hadn't yet returned, as he'd left for a different area from what Snap had seen, and he was worried that his artist friend was being overwhelmed. Glancing at his temporary companions, he could understand why the Zoners sheltering there were panicked, but there seemed to be little threat to them at the moment as the dragonflies remaining were occupied with the police. _'Or anyone unlucky enough to be left outside…'_ Snap thought worriedly.

Snap was contemplating somehow trying to reach Penny himself when something caught the attention of every Zoner sheltering in the building. A very small figure was running frantically toward the police station doors, and one of the frightened Zoners gathered near Snap quickly stepped forward to open the door as the panicked newcomer shot through the opening to collapse to her knees in a trembling heap on the floor.

The new Zoner was a small fox wearing some simple-looking clothes, who was obviously a child. Though she was on her knees now, she had stood on two legs when she'd fled toward the building. Though she was clearly startled – panicked even – there was no sign of injury anywhere on her body, but she continued to shake all over as she cast a frightened glance outside, gripping her own bushy tail fearfully in her paws as she did so.

"You okay?" Snap asked as he leaned down toward her, finding it a somewhat silly question after he'd asked it. She clearly wasn't_ okay_.

"M-my brother's out there," she stammered, casting a fearful glance toward the doors. "I told him to come this way but he ran into the hat shop across the street instead, and we got separated. Can…can one of you bring him here?" She turned from Snap and cast desperate eyes around at the rest of the group, all of whom looked rather shaken by the recent events. Snap briefly wondered if these Zoners had been recently erased or had simply never been witness to something like this happening before, but they certainly didn't seem to be handling the situation well at all. He shook his head, realizing that it was likely impossible for anyone to handle such a sudden attack with ease.

"He'll be fine where he is," the ape Zoner told the child, though it did little to calm the small fox.

Snap, who knew that part of the city well enough to know what shop the little girl was talking about, edged closer to the glass doors, and then hurriedly looked through them. He couldn't see much at the angle he was at, but the small hat shop was in view, if only barely, though he could tell immediately that something else was amiss. "Uh…" he began, turning around to face the group and drawing the attention away from the fox, "I think we might have a problem….there's fire near that building and I can't see the police-"

"I said, get away from there!" the ape, who was by far the largest of the sheltering Zoners, shouted again. "If the police have gone, that means-"

"That means one of us needs to go out there," Snap replied. He then thought to Penny, and realized that from where she was, the water from her hose wouldn't reach the buildings near the shop he was focused on, and he had no idea what other Zoners could be sheltering in the buildings nearby.

"If you leave, those creatures will know we're in here!" the large Zoner growled. "I saw them follow others into a building!"

"You what?" Snap replied, but the primate didn't seem keen on answering him.

"Just do what I say!" he growled, reaching forward to grab Snap again. This time, he gripped his upper right arm – right where the break was – earning a shriek from Snap as he pulled him backwards and pushed him again toward the group. "Look," he announced, addressing everyone hiding there rather than just Snap, "the Zoner hiding there will find a new place. The last thing we need is to attract attention to ourselves and bring them here. _No one_ leaves!"

Standing in silence as he rubbed his arm, Snap waited for someone to make a move or speak out against the self-proclaimed 'leader,' but all remained silent and uncertain, but for the small fox, who began pleading with the ape to either find her brother or take her to the place he was hiding. This caught the large Zoner's attention, and, as he was distracted, Snap moved back toward the door and pushed it open.

He heard the ape shout after him as he stumbled onto the pathway running by the street, but by then it was too late for the other civilian to stop him. Steadying himself with the crutch, Snap looked around and ducked against the wall of the building as a few of the dragonflies whipped past him, and he realized that although there were still some police officers fending them off further down the street, they were too occupied to check for Zoners in the buildings near the fires. Snap was momentarily unsure whether to try to head for the building himself or try to reach Penny, who he still couldn't see from where he was, as the other buildings blocked his view of where she was, and have her help him. He could hear distant shouts from other places in the city, but couldn't see much of what was going on in his current position.

Yet as he stepped out from his hiding place and got a glimpse of Penny a few buildings away, he realized that reaching her without drawing attention to them both would be difficult, and he could tell that Penny's only method of defense was the hose, as he watched her spray one of the dragonflies with water and cause it to swerve away from her in agitation. The hose simply wasn't long enough to reach that far, not to mention that she was currently trying to put out another fire that had broken out in one of the buildings.

Realizing that the hat shop wasn't that far, Snap wondered if he'd even be able to make it across the street quickly enough to avoid being detected. At least the street, which was usually busy, had been cleared of cars, save for a few confused Zoners who were powering down the road in an effort to either escape or get somewhere safe, and he focused on the hat shop on the other side of the street and a few buildings to the right.

Glancing around once more for any sign of the fire breathing insects, he waited a few seconds until it was at least relatively safe before limping as fast as he could toward the building. The desperate situation drove Snap on more solidly than normal, although his injuries flared up without any chance for respite. His heart pounded as he glanced from left to right, all too aware that if he was targeted by the speedy creatures, he wasn't likely to be able to get away fast enough. He suddenly questioned the efficiency of his plan. At least, he thought, he could try to coax the fox's brother to a safer hiding place if he was unable to help him to one himself.

Though he could see some of the dragonfly creatures reentering the area, he managed to make it to the other side of the street and slip between two of the buildings, luckily going unnoticed. After he thought the threat had passed, he moved as quickly as he could to the next narrow alleyway, knowing that the shop he was looking for was only the next one over.

A sound from the street sent sudden alarm rushing through him and he turned in shock before realizing that it was not one of the dragonflies that had discovered him, but Penny. He stared at her in complete surprise. "Penny? What are you doin' here?" he cried, wondering why she had stopped putting out the fire, unless she had managed to already get it under control, which he figured was likely, as she didn't seem like she had been fleeing. Penny looked just as perplexed to see him as he did to see her, and he realized this wasn't the time to ask questions.

"Snap, you have to get out of here!" she cried, and Snap tried to interrupt before a sound to their left caught their attention. They turned to see a group of Zoners, one of them a small fox looking almost identical to the one that had run in the police station. The fox was obviously terrified, but the other Zoners with him obviously knew what they were doing as they quickly ducked into a sturdier building away from the flames, not noticing Snap and Penny as they stood in the alley.

Penny glanced around behind them, noticing a dead end at the back of the alleyway. She knew that it was a sure way to end up cornered if any of the dragonfly creatures happened to notice them, and not only was Snap injured, but he did not have rocket shoes like she did. She quickly beckoned to Snap to follow her and crept toward the entrance to the alley and peered out. By now she could see no sign of police and she grew more worried. She turned her head toward the sturdy building the other Zoners had fled to, a large shop that looked like it might have a basement. She knew that it would likely be their best option for shelter until Rudy came back and could help, and she indicated it as she turned to Snap. Seeing no dragonflies about, they carefully emerged from the alley and crept along the wall of the shop, glad that an overhanging partial roof would at least make them a bit less noticeable.

A sound stopped them in their tracks as they heard the sound of buzzing wings mere feet from them. Penny whirled around to face them, noticing as she did so that the creatures hadn't noticed them, but had merely darted by without a glance at their makeshift hiding place. Once they had passed she quickly moved on, stopping just in front of the next alleyway and peering into it.

Snap was about to follow when a lone dragonfly suddenly stopped in its frantic flight, turning toward Penny as she looked into the alley. It came to a sudden stop mere feet behind her as she left the shelter of the overhanging roof.

"Penny! Behind you!" he shouted, not hesitating a moment longer before he lunged toward Penny with his good arm outstretched, dropping the crutch as he did so. He felt a sharp, intense pain in his leg that nearly caused him to stumble as he put his weight on it, and he gritted his teeth, pushing Penny aside as the dragonfly spewed a column of flame in her direction. He felt searing heat on his back but luckily his momentum had carried him out of the direct path of the flames, and both he and Penny collapsed in a heap on the pavement.

The two gasped as they struggled to their hands and knees. Snap, still feeling the burning heat, looked over his shoulder at the building. A large section of its wall was now smoldering, flames moving up its sides toward the roof. Snap felt a chilling, horrified sensation upon realizing that had almost been _them_.

He barely had time to react as Penny yanked him to his feet, casting a fearful glance at the dragonfly as they fled. Penny's right arm snaked around his back and grasped his side as his left arm stretched over one of her shoulders and to the other, and while she powered on into the road, careful to monitor her pace, Snap hopped frantically to keep up.

Penny gave a sudden shriek as a car appeared, swerving into their street from another side street unexpectedly. They hardly had time to throw panicked looks in its direction before the panicked Zoner operating the vehicle swerved out of the way and missed them by a small fraction. To their relief, the oncoming car confused the perusing dragonfly, which pulled back toward the shop as it careened by. Standing in the middle of the street, they suddenly realized how vulnerable they were. Penny looked toward the police station, and headed toward it, hoping she could move fast enough without causing Snap to stumble.

Halfway to the building, Penny stopped in her tracks as the dragonfly who had been previously threatening them swerved in front of the police station and locked onto them again. Penny was about to turn around and lead Snap the other way when an alarmed voice reached their ears. "Penny! Snap!" They two looked up to see Rudy appear from around the police building. Though he was obviously panicked and shaken, he looked unharmed, save for a few singe marks on his clothing. He seemed like he'd had some narrow escapes, and not much time to draw anything to help him either, as he was currently empty-handed save for the magic chalk.

His presence alerted the dragonfly, which shifted its focus to Rudy. They weren't sure why, but Rudy himself had a good guess, and that was that it saw him as a bigger threat. He quickly maneuvered himself through the air and down toward the street, having learned quickly that diving suddenly threw the creatures off, and landed on the ground. He realized a second too late that he was in front of the police building and not only were there Zoners hiding a ways behind the glass doors, but it seemed to be the place that Penny and Snap had been trying to get to as well. He looked toward his pursuers and realized at once that he'd hesitated a moment too long. Though he didn't want to draw attention to the sheltering Zoners, it was either flee into the building or end up with severe burns, or worse.

He turned around, igniting his rocket shoes as he did so and propelling himself toward the doors. He slammed them open and the other Zoners scattered for cover as he made an unceremonious entrance, hitting his shoe against a desk before he could stop himself. The rocket was dislodged, sending him spinning out of control for a brief second before he hit the ground.

For a moment he was dazed, aware of only a dull ache in his head, but he quickly recovered, looking up enough to see a few panicked Zoners who had darted into corners of the room, a few of them having fled into hallways. He could see Penny and Snap arriving inside as well, and it took him a moment to follow their gaze to see the dragonfly that he only now realized had followed him in the building. It looked completely dazed, and he watched it in confusion as Penny and Snap hurried toward him, ducking with him behind the desk.

Penny had seen Rudy's small rocket strike the creature as it followed him into the building, and she glanced to her friend, knowing that this was their one good chance of getting it away from the Zoners before it could harm anyone.

Trying to think of a type of fire-resistant cage that could contain the dragonfly and render it harmless, Rudy stood up with the chalk in his hand, and as he did so, he happened to glance toward the doorway, and leaped back in shock. There looked to be a small swarm of the insects hovering just outside the door, and Rudy knew that his frantic escape had not gone unnoticed.

Snap and Penny, who had noticed the same thing, quickly ducked further behind the desk with Rudy. A few of the Zoners panicked and took off into some of the building's hallways, while others were too frightened of being detected to move. The Zoners that had opted to hide rather than flee into the hallway cast frightened glances at Rudy, looking to him for a solution. He gritted his teeth, unsure what could stop such a large group.

He watched as the insects zoomed off in different directions, some paying no attention to the Zoners but instead targeting any object they found flammable. Rudy was about to leap to the aid of a ChalkZone City citizen who was chased toward the other side of the room by one dragonfly when another appeared over the edge of the desk he and his friends were sheltering behind.

Rudy ducked to the side as a stream of flame, aimed for him rather than his friends, seared the carpet where he'd been crouching a moment before. Quickly using his magic chalk, he began to draw an improvised heat-resistant shield over the area they sheltered in, moving back toward his friends as the dragonfly swerved around to attack him from another angle. Luckily his shield was complete before it attacked again, and although he still had to scramble back from the heat, it did not harm him. As he did so, he glanced to the other side of the room where the Zoner who had been chased was, but luckily they had managed to escape into another room, the dragonfly instead focusing on burning the door. He cringed, seeing small fires at different areas around the room, and recalling the Zoners who had fled deeper into the building.

He looked to Penny and Snap, knowing that the shield only protected them on one side, but to his relief the dragonfly that had been attacking them did not try to penetrate the barrier again, and instead zipped toward another part of the room they couldn't see from their position. They had begun to notice that it was becoming hard to breathe, smoke already clogging the air around them and stinging their eyes. It made things difficult to see as well, and Rudy could no longer keep track of where the Zoners and dragonflies were.

However, that also gave him the advantage of being able to draw without being as easily spotted. He stood up, wracking his brain for something that could stop them without drawing attention to their hiding place or imposing any danger on the hiding Zoners, when a noise from the building entrance caught the attention of him and everyone else sheltering there at the same time.

Due to the smoke, Rudy and his friends couldn't see what had just entered through the doors, which sounded as if they had been slammed open with a large amount of force. However, they were soon keenly aware that a bright light had enveloped the room, cutting through the smoke and making the three flinch. It wasn't that they had started to grow accustomed to the low lighting; the light that came from the area by the doors was nearly blinding.

Rudy clenched his eyes shut, feeling a bit stunned as the light penetrated everything in the room. He opened his eyes again, and it took him a moment to realize that the light didn't seem quite normal, in a way that had nothing to do with its intensity. It seemed to shimmer with a few different colors, and had an odd effect on his vision that made it uncomfortable to look at. It was like looking into a very strange and bright window that distorted everything behind it only the tiniest bit, not enough to be very immediately noticeable, but certainly enough to be unsettling. Though he wanted to close his eyes again, he forced them to stay open, focusing his attention as well as he could on the attacking dragonflies through the brightness. To his astonishment, they had all frozen in midair. Instead of continuing the attack, they all fluttered lazily toward the light as if in a trance.

Feeling that, at least for the moment, the worst of the danger had passed, Rudy stood up, peering around his improvised shield, which luckily also kept the flames flickering along the opposite side of their desk from reaching his friends, and tried to look towards the light to see what was happening. He couldn't make out much, but he could tell that the light was coming from a strange sort of device being held by a figure standing in the doorway that he could not identify due to the light. He watched, transfixed, as the creatures lazily hovered around the light source, which looked to be the shape of a box, as the figure holding it set it down gently and stepped away.

The dragonflies made no move to follow the Zoner, who, seeming completely unbothered by the strange unnerving quality of the light, made his way across the room toward the desk Rudy and his friends had been hiding behind. Rudy was currently using a newly-drawn fire extinguisher to put out the flames on the desk, while some more level-headed Zoners were doing the same to the other fires with a fire extinguisher one must have found somewhere in the building. Relieved that the fire hadn't had time to spread far, Rudy watched as it was quickly extinguished and he turned toward the Zoner who had arrived with the bright box.

Rudy knew that if the stranger could walk away from the threat so casually, the fiery insects weren't a threat for the time being. He stood up fully, stepping around the barrier and squinting his eyes as he thought worriedly of the other Zoners that were still in danger in the city. He could only hope this stranger would be willing to help them as well. The Zoner now approaching him, who was over twice his height, stopped a few feet from the desk. His form was blocking the source of the intense light enough that Rudy could make out his features. He was a tall, anthropomorphic wolf drawing with dark gray fur that was slicked back. He wore a rather expensive looking coat and suit, and Rudy had no idea if he was a rich Zoner or had merely been drawn with that clothing. He looked like an artist's interpretation of a very calm and collected werewolf, and one much less threatening. Instead of being bulky and strong looking, this one was rather thin. Though he certainly didn't look vicious like the types of werewolf drawings Rudy had seen before, there was something a little off-putting about his appearance, his eyes in particular, as if his artist had intended him to look somewhat sinister, but his gaze was concerned and there was nothing about him that suggested he wanted to do anyone harm. Unlike Rudy, the werewolf's eyes were wide open and he seemed quite calm despite the situation.

"Are you all right?" the wolf asked in a low, but calm sounding voice as he surveyed Rudy, likely taking in his disheveled appearance and panicked state. He stepped forward, glancing around the room at the other Zoners and then to Penny and Snap as they emerged from behind the desk.

"Y-yes," Penny stammered, still shaken from the experience as she looked the Zoner warily in the eye, "we're all right."

"Look, we need your help!" Rudy cried, taking a few steps closer to the tall Zoner. "The city's in danger, and-"

"It's taken care of," he replied with a smile, to which Rudy only stared back at him in shock.

"What do you-"

"They can sense this type of light for miles," the wolf replied, indicating the dragonflies before taking a moment to glance again to the frightened Zoners and beckon them from their hiding places. "I have more lights set up outside. And don't worry, the police will find something to do with these creatures. They're rounding them up as we speak."

Rudy was astonished, wondering how this Zoner could have acted so quickly, let alone how he had happened to have just the sort of thing that was needed to stop the dragonflies. He was astounded that the Zoner had managed to procure a solution, seemingly out of thin air. "But what about-"

"See for yourself," the wolf replied, gesturing toward the door and then indicating that everyone still in the room should leave.

The frightened Zoners stayed put, looking quite reluctant, but after they saw Rudy and his friends, Rudy and Penny helping Snap, walk toward the door, they relaxed a bit, and hesitantly followed. Rudy shielded his eyes from the light as he walked past the spot the dragonflies were gathered around, flinching a little as another dragonfly from outside darted through the open doorway past him, but the creature acted as if he wasn't even there. He pushed open the door and peered outside, glad that the strange light was mostly contained inside the building. He could see a bright glow from somewhere further off, which he assumed was one of the other lights that the wolf Zoner had set up, and to his amazement, the chaos in the streets had completely stopped. The dragonflies weren't in sight, but the few Zoners he could see around him had calmed down, and were instead working on putting out what remained of the fires. Others were merely standing confused, as if they had arrived to help with the commotion, only to find it gone. There was no panicked shouting to be heard from other streets, just the determined sounds of Zoners working together after the threat had passed.

As Rudy and friends glanced around, they gradually relaxed, realizing that, as unlikely as it had first seemed, their problem had been completely resolved. Still hardly able to believe it, Rudy glanced toward the side street the dragonflies had first been seen from, but there was no sign of any more coming from that way. "Where did those things come from?" he mused aloud.

The wolf-like Zoner, who had approached with several of the ones who had been hiding in the police station, followed his gaze. "I know the species," he said. "They migrate in groups. Unfortunately, as you have seen, they are incredibly destructive."

"That's for sure," Snap muttered.

"All that needs to be done is to contain them," the wolf continued. "Perhaps in an enclosed environment. The Zoners of the city will take care of that. They are no longer a threat for the time being." He paused, giving Rudy and his friends another glance. "Just be careful." Before waiting for a reply, he turned and headed away from them, getting into a rather beat up looking vehicle that seemed like it had come from We R Cars, which Rudy gave a somewhat perplexed glance.

"Wait a minute-" Rudy began, slipping from Snap's side, but the Zoner had already begun to drive off, leaving him to stare in perplexity. He had wanted to ask him how he had known about those creatures, or what else he knew, in the event that anything else happened. It seemed unlikely at this stage, however, considering what he'd said about the migrations. At least, he thought, it seemed that he could finally relax.

"Rudy!" Penny's urgent voice came from behind him. "We _need_ to get back home…we were already late before-"

"Right," Rudy replied, suddenly remembering the urgency. They needed to return to the Real World as soon as possible. Though the buildings in the streets that had been attacked were in poor shape, at least nothing was on fire anymore, and the city Zoners themselves seemed to have the situation under control, so he felt it was all right to leave them for now and return to his home. After drawing a new crutch for Snap once his friend had assured him that he could find a way to his house all right on his own, he quickly drew another motorized scooter and they hurried off to the portal.

**ooo**

Rudy and Penny had hardly had any time to sneak back into Penny's room and hurriedly do their best to wash off the dust and grime from their ordeal in ChalkZone, a task made simple by the fact that it was chalk and easily washed away, before they could sneak outside and pretend they had gone for a walk and simply lost track of time.

Unfortunately, as they were trying to creep out the back door, Mrs. Sanchez caught them and had demanded to know where they had been, and Rudy hurriedly made up a story about having been on a walk. He realized only after he'd said it that it made little sense that they would have been sneaking through the back door, and Penny stated that she had wanted to check on the dogs that were currently staying at the clinic.

"We…we didn't realize we were late," Penny explained again. "We were out back with the animals when I noticed the time, and…" She trailed off, hoping her mother hadn't checked there, but to her relief she didn't seem suspicious, just annoyed.

"Well, be sure to pay more attention next time," she said sternly. "If you want Rudy to come over after school this often, you'll need to keep better track of things in the future."

"We will," Penny responded, and she and Rudy breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they had only gotten off with a warning, and hadn't been gone for longer than twenty minutes. Still, it always made them nervous every time they had to return late from ChalkZone; the last thing they needed was their parents becoming suspicious of their activities and wanting to check on them more. They were lucky they had managed to avoid any repercussions this time. For once, a disaster in ChalkZone and a delay in returning had gone easily.

After dinner, Rudy and Penny briefly discussed the possibility of the dragonfly attack and the other recent events in ChalkZone, as well as the lab they had discovered being related, but in the end they agreed that it didn't seem likely, and at least the dragonfly problem was taken care of. He only hoped that any more such problems would not surface again.

**ooo**

The buzz of static came from the odd chalky-talky-like device as the werewolf Zoner took it out of his coat pocket and activated it, situated at the outskirts of the city near the Wait N' Sea. He waited a few seconds in silence, the walls of two massive buildings casting shadows down on his resting spot, before a worried voice sounded from the other end.

"What's happening?" the Zoner on the other end of the device asked. "What was it that made you have to leave so suddenly-"

The wolf breathed a heavy sigh, leaning against the brick wall of the building nearest to him. "I think we've got a problem."

"Really?" The voice sounded confused. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure," the wolf replied, "but I have a guess."

"And that would be…?"

"I honestly think that some idiot is sending his creatures through the tunnels beneath ChalkZone City, for the purpose of destroying it, or at least causing a lot of damage."

"The tunnels?" The other voice sounded confused. "I thought they repaired all the-"

"Not all of them," the wolf responded with a tinge of annoyance. "There's parts of the city they haven't gotten around to repairing yet."

"Ah, I see. Never seen the city myself, so-"

"I was lucky I could get the light boxes here quick enough," the wolf hissed. "Look, I need to get to the bottom of this."

"But construction's almost complete!" the voice then sounded worried. "We've only got a few more weeks, maybe less! If we send anyone out, the delays will…" The Zoner paused. "Are you sure this isn't just a random attack?"

"I admit it could be, but I don't think so. It was too organized. Dragonfireflies don't normally behave that way."

"Does anyone else think this?"

"I don't think so. The Zoners here didn't act like they had ever seen them before. But that doesn't matter whether they do or not. What matters is finding the source of the problem."

"But I told you, if we send out anyone else, we'll-"

"All I want to know is who, if anyone, is behind this," the wolf replied. "We don't need many for that. I trust you to find someone who can figure out who this is."

"I see," the voice replied, sounding a bit more enthusiastic. "Well, if that's what you need, you've got it, boss!"

"All right. I've wasted enough time here already. I want someone else here in fifteen minutes."

"Consider it done."

"Good," the wolf responded. "There's someone else I need to contact and then I'm heading back. Give me a call when this mess is cleared up."

The Zoner on the other end was confident as he replied, "Expect it soon, Axxar."

He then fiddled with a few of the buttons on the device, accessing a function that acted more like a normal phone instead of merely a direct line to his associates. Taking a frustrated breath, he entered a number. He waited a moment with baited breath until the Zoner on the other end picked up. "Hello," he stated, immediately ridding himself of the frustration in his voice and sounding, to the Zoner on the other line, for all the world like he was completely calm. "I know that during the last-"

"You? Again?" the female voice on the other end snarled, and Axxar had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Dealing with this Zoner had been incredibly frustrating, to say the least, and during his infiltration of her factories, he had learned enough about her to not have been surprised by the way she had reacted to any of his requests. But he had a small bit of hope that this time, he would convince her.

"Listen," he stated, revealing none of his impatience to the Zoner whom he was trying to persuade, "I have another offer for the machine I expressed interest in earlier."


	5. Word of Warning

**Cryptic Infiltration**

**Chapter Five – Word of Warning**

On Monday afternoon, after the school day had ended and they'd met up in Penny's room, Rudy and Penny returned to ChalkZone. Worried about the Zoners of ChalkZone City, they were keen to return and check that nothing had been further damaged since the dragonfly attack the day before. They had been planning to go to the city during school hours, but ended up having a harder time than usual sneaking into ChalkZone due to the fact that Mr. Wilter had stayed in the classroom during the recesses. There hadn't been any spare classrooms for them to use at the time, either. They had also had little luck using the blacktop outside, and hadn't managed to find a secluded enough place to slip away until near the end of recess. They had only been able to manage a short trip, which hadn't been long enough to make the journey to ChalkZone City and back, though from what they could see when they saw the buildings from a distance, nothing seemed amiss, which was at least fairly reassuring.

This time, however, they had plenty of time to make a visit, and Rudy was sure they were going to need it, as he planned to help with the repairs in the city. They both felt bad about how they had had to leave ChalkZone so suddenly after the attack the previous day, and were happy they could now be of help to anyone who needed it. Rudy had brought along a few extra pieces of magic chalk, thinking that Penny could help him redraw parts of buildings if it was needed.

Rudy had decided to use a vehicle to get to the city to save time. Normally they wouldn't have minded walking, since they had come into ChalkZone from Penny's portal, which meant the city was close by, but Rudy was a bit anxious and impatient to make sure the city Zoners were all right, and that there was no threat of a repeat attack. Dangers like that did not usually get solved as easily as yesterday's situation had, and it made him wonder if there was another threat around the corner. He tried to tell himself that he was only more worried than usual because of the strange occurrences that had happened the past few days, and after a few minutes, he began to feel like maybe he _was_ being a little paranoid.

"Well, it certainly doesn't _look_ like the city's taken any more damage," Penny remarked as they neared the first buildings and could observe them clearly, already able to hear both the faint sound of Zoners' cars as well as the waves of the Wait N' Sea to their left.

"Well, that's good," Rudy replied in relieved agreement as he kept his eyes ahead. If they ignored the parts of ChalkZone City that hadn't yet been repaired after Newland's termite attack, everything looked completely normal, and it was again clear that there hadn't been any more disasters while they had been away at school.

"We should also make sure the ChalkZone City officials brought those creatures to a place where they couldn't harm anyone," Penny pointed out.

"Good idea," Rudy replied. He then considered something. "Do you think we should go see if Snap wants to come?" he asked. However, after all they had been through the previous day, he was a bit hesitant to drag Snap around the city while he was injured. As much as he wanted Snap to come with them, he cared more about letting his friend rest.

"I'm sure he'd want to come along…we should at least ask him," Penny replied, and Rudy nodded, knowing that Snap could stay behind if he wanted to, and Penny was likely right that Snap would rather go with them to help.

Since they were already close to the beach, they didn't have to go far to reach Snap's house. It was only a short drive to the sand, which Rudy found difficult to drive on. He tightened his grip on the wheel as he glanced out his window, frowning as he tried to figure out what the problem was. Penny suggested that it was a simple grip issue, and he nodded in agreement.

After slowing the car to a stop, Rudy leapt out of the driver's seat to make some quick adjustments to the tires, Penny advising him a few times on how to alter them. When he was satisfied, they hurried over to the tall structure that Snap called home, passing a few curious Zoners playing volleyball, sun baking and building sandcastles as they did so.

They pulled up and climbed out of the vehicle, they followed the short path leading to his front door and knocked a few times. It took roughly half a minute, but eventually their blue and white friend appeared in the doorway bearing a smile.

"Oh, hey there, guys!" He turned around and glanced into his house, as if to check everything was in order before looking back to them. "Where're we goin' today?"

"We're going to check the city…just to make sure everything's okay. We weren't sure if you wanted to come, but we figured we'd ask," Rudy said, although acknowledging that Snap looked prepared for wherever his friends planned to take him.

"Sure, Bucko, of course I'll come," he replied enthusiastically, a hint of perplexity in his voice upon hearing that they felt the need to ask him first. "It'll be good to make sure those rotten creatures were dealt with and won't be comin' back!"

"Are you sure?" Penny wondered, concern warming her voice. Upon noticing his confused look, she continued, "Because of your physical state, we thought we should ask you first…in case you were too weak to come."

"Nope, I'm good to go," he assured them calmly.

"Okay ," Rudy began, content to see that his friend was in good enough order to come with them, "let's go!" He gestured to the car and led the way toward it.

"What's the hurry, Bucko?" Snap raised his voice to ask as he followed, looking a bit confused. "You need to be home early or somethin'?"

"No," he replied, a little nervously, "I just want to make sure nothing's happened."

"Well, everything seems fine from here," Penny stated with a clear tone. "If there were some major disaster, I'm sure it would be readily apparent."

Snap nodded as he hobbled with his crutch behind. "I would've seen if anything else was attackin' anybody."

"I know," Rudy sighed, knowing that due to the height of Snap's house, his friend would easily have been able to see if anything happened to ChalkZone City that day, and he felt a little silly for failing to consider this shortly before. He wasn't sure what had been making him anxious enough to check that everything was fine, but he figured he was simply overreacting, thinking back to the incident with Bob Newland's drawings and perhaps fearing that history would repeat itself. He knew, however, that this situation was nothing like that one had been, and he realized his urgency was probably a little unneeded. All the same, there was probably a lot he could do to help repair the damage, and he would need a fair amount of time for that. He certainly wanted to help the Zoners in their time of need, and that was reason enough to hurry. "You're right," he sighed with a shrug, hoping to seem a bit more relaxed than he felt. "But there's still a lot we can help with."

As he arrived at the car and whirled around to wait for the others, Rudy noticed that Snap was limping worse than he had been for the past week or so, and he looked to him with wholesome concern. "Are you all right?" he pressed, wondering if it had been a bad idea to ask him to come along after all. If they had not given him the option, then he would have been spared the activity.

"It's not much worse," Snap replied, though a bit unenthusiastically, as if he wasn't entirely sure himself. Rudy deduced that it must have been a result of him moving around so much during the attack in the city the previous day, which he knew he wasn't supposed to do. Snap didn't seem to be in an extreme amount of pain, but he felt bad for him all the same.

There was an easy path from the section of the beach where Snap's house currently resided that led into ChalkZone City, snaking conveniently around the place where most Zoners chose to play, lie or sit. The trip was short and smooth, and the trio remained reasonably silent while the new tires did their job across the sand.

As soon as they reached the city, they noticed with annoyance that the streets in that area near the beach were closed off, so Rudy left the car there and they took a path by the shops, noticing with relief that everything in that section of the city seemed to be in a perfect state, and there wasn't any sign of fire or further damage. Rudy knew that the place where the recently drawn police station was located would be a different story, and he couldn't help being worried about the sort of damage they might find there or in areas around it. He was pretty sure the monsters hadn't reached places like the hospital, and he could only hope he was right.

Luckily, the trio managed to catch a snail taxi on the next street over, where the streets were not closed, so Rudy didn't have to draw them transportation. Peering through the window of the snail's shell, Rudy could see that there were hardly any Zoners on the streets. He at first found it a bit odd, being so used to seeing many of them, until he realized that they would obviously be wary considering what had happened, and felt a bit silly for expecting to see a lot of them. When they neared the street where the attack had first taken place, however, they could see that the area around the police station was a completely different story, and the three could only stare in both shock and confusion.

Though the damage to the surrounding buildings looked no worse than the trio remembered it from the previous day, there was definitely something strange going on, as a massive crowd of Zoners was spanning across the entire street. Most of them clearly weren't there to help repair the damage, and as Rudy watched even more civilians approach the scene with frantic looks, he felt a sense of apprehension.

As he called for the snail to stop and he exited the snail shell, he realized that both the sidewalk and the street were crowded with Zoners who had gathered there. Rudy kept to the edge of the path to avoid some of the frantic arriving civilians, most of whom who looked just as clueless about the situation as he was. Penny and Snap came to stand beside him, staring around at the scene in utter confusion. The three friends could quickly tell that the focus of the attention was the police station, or rather, a group of Zoners who were standing in front of it.

As soon as the Zoners in the crowd noticed Rudy, they quickly stepped aside to make way for him and his friends. Rather than ask one of them what was going on, Rudy and the others decided to go directly toward the source, which, as they saw once the group parted to let them through, was a group of police officer Zoners who seemed to be trying to explain something, but the questions and cries of the city citizens around them were obviously making things difficult.

Rudy nudged his way past a tall zebra in order to move to the front of the crowd. Muttering a quick apology, he turned and ran up the steps of the police station to where the nearest police officer was standing in front of the doors, looking like he was trying to calm down the shouting Zoners. "Excuse me," Rudy asked, fighting to make his voice heard, "but…what's going on? Was there another attack?" Behind him, Penny and Snap finally managed to make their way into the small section of open space in front of the police station as well.

"No," the officer, a tall penguin dressed in a police uniform, replied. He looked warily at the crowd before adding, "There's been a threat against ChalkZone City."

"A threat?" Rudy replied, unsure what to make of that information as Penny and Snap exchanged looks of bewilderment too. "A threat from who?"

"We aren't sure," the officer replied, "but around noon today, one of the television stations that broadcasts here was hacked. A message was aired telling the entirety of the city that we would need to give up all our food, drinking water, medical supplies, as well as everything in the shops, and the personal belongings of the city's citizens. That's why all these Zoners are so upset." He waved a flipper toward the crowd for emphasis. "The culprit who did this was, as he said, the one who sent those dragonfly monsters into the city."

"And you have absolutely no idea who or what this Zoner is?" Penny asked before Rudy could reply, sounding just as shocked as he felt at the turn of events.

The penguin shook his head. "The message included no image of him. Just a name. Shift. Have any of you heard of him?" He glanced toward the three kids, who each shook their heads.

"Well," Rudy began, lifting his stick of magic chalk, "if he decides to show himself, rest assured that we'll do everything we can to-"

"There's something else," the officer continued, and from the sound of his voice, Rudy could tell at once that he knew of some other factor that would not make stopping such a criminal so easy.

"Yes?" Penny prompted when the penguin took a moment to shout something at a Zoner who had run to the front of the crowd with some sort of demand.

"You see," he continued after turning back to them. "This Zoner…claims he has access to the Real World."

Rudy felt his blood turn to ice at those words. Out of everything he could have possibly suspected the officer was going to share with them, he couldn't have guessed this. He wasn't sure how such a thing would even be possible, unless this 'Shift' was working with another creator. The thought sent cold shivers through his body, as the only other humans who had been creators in recent times were Vinnie Raton, Terry Bouffant, and Bob Newland. If what this criminal claimed was true, he could easily bring magic chalk to any human he wanted to if he was able to invade the Chalk Mine, and suddenly the image of the newscast about the Chalk Mine's infiltrator and the destruction to one of Biclops' rooms entered his mind like a lightning bolt, and he nearly staggered backward out of shock as his brain made the connection. "Wh-what?" he stammered, feeling his arm drop as his grip on the magic chalk loosened.

"That's what he told us in the announcement," the penguin officer replied grimly. "Of course, you know what this means. If anyone like that…_Reggie the Red_ kid got in, we'd-"

"Wait...wait!" Rudy cried, his voice shaking as he held up his hands. "Did he say anything else? Like what he was going to do with this-"

The penguin shook his head. "No," he replied. "Just that he could use it against us."

Rudy turned around to look at his two friends, exchanging looks of horror with each of them. Penny, however, took a step toward him. "Rudy, we don't know if this Zoner is telling the truth," she stated firmly, though behind her brave look, Rudy knew she was scared herself.

"Yeah, Bucko…" Snap replied, giving Rudy an uneasy smile. "This Shift fellow could be bluffing, right?" He gave a nervous chuckle, but it was clear he certainly wasn't entirely convinced.

Rudy and Penny were both unable to formulate a reply, and Rudy thought back again to the Chalk Mine incident. It hadn't_ seemed_ like any chalk had been taken, but there was no way anyone could notice if a few pieces were missing. He felt himself start to shake, the enormity of what this could mean dawning on him all over again.

"Look, I know what you're thinking," Penny stated after a moment, and from the look of worry on her and Snap's faces, it was clear they'd made the same connection Rudy had, "but those dragonflies looked nothing like Newland's drawings."

"Yeah, and uh, you'd think if Newland had the chalk, he'd be stormin' the place with his monstrosities already," Snap added.

"No! No, he wouldn't," Rudy cried, a bit louder than he'd intended, for now the attention of a large portion of the front of the crowd had shifted to him. "I told Newland I had that footage of him breaking into my house, remember? He wouldn't do anything until…until he was sure I couldn't use that against him! He could just be biding his time. And he's a professional artist; I'm sure he could imitate inexperienced drawings too if he wanted to!" He paused, realizing that Snap looked quite taken aback by his outburst. "Look, I just…" he began with a shake of his head. "…We need to get to the bottom of this, and we need to make sure that neither Newland nor _any_ of his creations can touch that footage! And then somehow we'll need to-"

"Rudy, maybe we're jumping to conclusions too quickly," Penny stated, and Rudy stared at her in shock.

"But, _Penny_-"

"I don't mean we shouldn't take precautions in case it _is _Newland again! I mean, I just think we need to consider…that there might be another explanation. Another human who got their hands on the magic chalk, or…or an open portal somewhere."

"No one's taken any chalk from me!" Rudy protested. "And…where would there be an open portal? I don't even leave my portals open if I'm going to be gone longer than fifteen minutes or so anymore!"

"Maybe this Zoner only snuck in one of those times," Penny replied. "We'll have to be careful, but…we need to find out as much about this as we can. We can't panic yet… Let's ask the officers to see this broadcast ourselves."

Rudy tried to push the images of the infiltrated Chalk Mine from his mind as he turned to the police officer, who had begun conversing with one of the others during his and his friends' conversation. "Okay," he said, but he had a feeling they weren't going to learn much more from it. Shift, whoever he was, didn't seem to want to give them much information.

"Try to think of anything that might have happened recently," Penny continued. "Any time a Zoner might have-"

"I can't think of any time they would have had longer than a few minutes!" Rudy replied with a hiss of frustration. "Especially not since…not since the Chalk Mine was invaded. I haven't even left the portal open since then!"

"Maybe they…haven't gone back to the Real World yet?" Snap suggested, and Rudy cringed, remembering the incident where two Zoners, Boorat and Dooth, had attempted to bring magic chalk into the Real World, and ended up kidnapping Snap instead, locking him away from ChalkZone for two days.

"He said he _has_ access to a portal," Rudy replied. "Or some means of getting to one whenever-"

"That's not what he said," Penny interjected. "The officer told us the message stated that he had access to the Real World. That's it. He could just be using your portals for quick trips whenever you-"

"But for what?" Rudy cried. "I don't leave the portals open long enough for him to sneak into unless he _somehow_ knows exactly when I'll choose to go to ChalkZone each day."

"True," Penny replied, "but even if he's not lying, he might not be telling the truth about having it _right this moment_. It may just be a plan he has in place. If he really had something like…like a creator on his side right now, I don't think he'd hesitate to take whatever he wanted from the city, but instead he's waiting for them to hand it over to him. I think there's a good chance that, if he's not just bluffing, he doesn't quite have what he claims to yet."

"Maybe…" Rudy responded half-heartedly. What Penny said did make sense, but he knew there could be a reason for the simple threat. Maybe, like Newland, this Zoner didn't want to harm ChalkZone if it didn't have to come to it. But if there was a chance that the Zoner behind the message _did _have what he threatened, he certainly wasn't going to ignore the possibility. He was unsure what to do without any leads, but it was clear that the city couldn't just hand over its supplies. He closed his eyes, trying to drown out the sounds of the crowd around him before he opened them again, suddenly moving to the center of the area in front of the group of police officers. "Everyone, listen!" he announced, and after a few times of repeating the phrase, he finally was rewarded with something close to silence. He knew that he could not explain to these Zoners just what was threatening them, but he could at least reassure them on one thing. "None of you have to worry about losing your shops _or_ your belongings," he called out, and it was clear from the Zoners' hopeful and surprised expressions that he had their attention. "You won't have to give them up," he continued. "Instead…I'm going to draw this…_Shift_…what he wants, so you can keep what's yours."

"_What?_" Penny and Snap cried at once, clearly alarmed by what Rudy had just said.

"Rudy, are you serious?" Penny questioned with wide-eyed alarm. "You don't know what this Zoner intends to _do_ with all those things!"

Rudy cringed, realizing she had a point. _A very good point._ In the moment, it had seemed far better to eliminate any threat of another attack on the city, especially involving someone from the Real World, but now Penny's argument seemed much clearer. If a human wanted to harm ChalkZone, a Zoner getting what they wanted wasn't going to stop them. And if there was a sinister purpose for the items that Shift was demanding, Rudy knew that simply handing them over could be a big mistake. It had seemed simple enough to give this mysterious Zoner the supplies, but now he was realizing how dangerous that sounded. He looked to the Zoners in the crowd. Some were nervously agreeing with Penny, and others were protesting her statement, demanding he draw the items in order to get the criminal to leave their city alone.

"Okay, look!" Rudy shouted, and this time, the noise did not die down much. "Before I do anything, we're going to find out who this 'Shift' Zoner is. And then…then we'll decide what to do." He looked to Penny and Snap, who looked satisfied with his final decision, yet extremely worried about the situation as a whole. He was sure that the first thing they needed to do was find out who the mysterious Zoner was, and how he had a link to the Real World, if he did at all.

Though the members of the crowd around them were visibly worried, most seemed to accept that there was nothing else Rudy could do at that moment, and had gone back to loudly conversing among each other, save for a few who were still demanding he draw the supplies. Rudy tried to block them out, remembering that Penny had wanted to see the broadcast itself, and to his relief, he saw one of the police officers beckoning him and the others toward the open doors of the building. He and his friends could find out everything the police knew, and from there…

Rudy sighed, feeling far more lost even than he had when trying to follow the trail of strange occurrences throughout ChalkZone the previous few days. After they saw the footage created by this strange unknown Zoner, the trail would be a lot less clear. In fact, he wasn't sure there was a trail he could follow at all.

**ooo**

"Axxar, I've got important news," the voice on the other end of the device buzzed.

The werewolf gripped it tightly, immediately alert. After his subjects' failure to find the culprit behind the dragonfly attack in ChalkZone City the previous day, he had been anticipating another call. This one, however, had caught him by surprise when he'd been scouting the edge of the Wait N' Sea near the city, hoping to stumble across some sort of clue before he was needed back at the base again. Looking around at the other Zoners lounging on the beach or splashing in the waves nearby, he was sure to keep his voice down as he increased his brisk pace. "What is it? Did you find him?"

A flicker of static sounded on the other end before the voice continued. "No, but…there's something else. Something much more important."

Axxar waited in expectation, knowing just from the tone of the speaker's voice that what he was about to say mattered much more than even catching the Zoner behind the attacks.

"This Zoner claims he access to the Real World."

Axxar nearly stopped in his tracks, but caught himself and kept going, not wanting to attract any attention from the surrounding Zoners in case they overheard something. As unlikely as that possibility seemed, considering that many Zoners went for walks along the beach and he hardly stood out, but he was determined to be careful anyway. "Can you verify if this is true?" he asked, his voice low as his gaze shifted toward a polar bear with glasses, who had cast a curious glance in his direction.

"Not exactly, but…Axxar, this could mean _everything_. If we had the means to find it-"

"I know," the wolf replied cautiously, still keeping his voice low. Even though he was sure he wasn't close enough to the other Zoners for them to overhear, he was wary, knowing that it was possible that some could have stronger than average hearing. He was determined to say as little as possible out loud until he could reach a more secluded spot. "What else do you know about him?"

"He calls himself "Shift,"" the voice replied. "He wants supplies from ChalkZone City. For what, I don't know."

"That's not important," Axxar growled, pausing to shake a bit of sand out of his shoe in annoyance before carrying on. Luckily, he was now on a stretch of the beach that didn't seem to have any visitors at the moment, which he assumed, with a bit of amusement, had something to do with the triangular fins of some newly drawn sharks circling in the water. He slowed down to a more normal pace. "Look," he stated, "forget what I said earlier. If you find this 'Shift' Zoner, don't kill him. Find out how he's doing this if what he says is true."

"Of course," the voice replied. "Do you think we should-"

"Send out some of the others to search for his entry point," Axxar continued, cutting his associate off. "This is more important than the construction right now."

"I suppose so, but…"

"We can bring in more recruits to work on it," he growled. "I want only those I trust looking out for this…gateway into the Real World."

"And if we can't find Shift…?"

"Don't worry about that," Axxar continued. "I believe I have a way to track him on my own."

"You? But I thought you-"

"Like you said, this is more important," the wolf replied. "I'm leaving you in charge until this is done." Without waiting for a reply, he shut the device off.

Turning to face the city, the dark gray Zoner narrowed his eyes. He had a hunch on how to track Shift, and he could only hope that it would work. Normally he would not leave his workers for so long, but this was of far greater importance at the moment. At first, he had thought this mysterious Zoner of a level of importance only befitting an investigation by those beneath him, but this, this possibility of constant access to the Real World…changed everything.

**ooo**

Pulling open the drawer in his desk beneath his bed, Rudy quickly dug through his belongings, including his current magic chalk stash, until he found the tape he'd recorded with the footage from the small camera he'd set up in his room a month ago, when Bob Newland and his accomplices had broken into his room. For a while, he had only had a chalk tape, but after Penny expressed concern about it getting wet somehow, she had managed to find a way to copy it onto a Real World tape using a combination of ChalkZone and Real World technology that, after a few failed tries one afternoon while Rudy's parents had gone, had finally worked. "We need a better hiding place for this," Rudy muttered.

He turned to Penny, who was standing beside him, and then toward the open portal on his chalkboard, where he knew Snap was waiting down below. Penny looked to him worriedly, still unsure what to make of everything they had discovered that day. The broadcast itself hadn't given them any more clues or information, and she, like the others, was at a loss for how to solve such a problem. Though none of them could be sure how much of Shift's threat was the truth, they knew they couldn't afford to assume anything if there was a chance that a way into ChalkZone, unknown to them, existed.

"We'll have to put this somewhere in ChalkZone," Rudy told her firmly, his hands on the evidence tape. "Keeping it in the Real World is too risky. There's no good place to hide it here."

"Are you sure it'll be safe?" Penny asked. "What if some random Zoner comes across it?"

"Well," Rudy replied, still looking at the tape as he did so. "A while ago I stored a lot of my old drawings in ChalkZone, and they're still fine." He thought back to that day, remembering that it had been the day he and Snap had met Snap's cousins in ChalkZone, which had turned out to be a rather unpleasant visit. However, the memory was quickly interrupted by thoughts of what they were now facing.

"Maybe I could hide it somewhere in my house," Snap called from outside the portal, and for a moment Rudy cringed, worried that his parents might have heard the shout, but he relaxed after there was no sign of either of them coming up to investigate.

Walking over to the portal, he leaned his head in and responded, "That might be a good idea. I…I could even draw a safe for it somewhere."

He heard Penny approaching and retreated from the portal to see her looking more worried than she had previously. She seemed to be deep in thought as she began, "Rudy, can you think of _any _time someone could have gotten their hands on the magic chalk? Even for a little bit? Possibly at school…?"

Rudy shook his head. "No, nothing like that happened! I was really careful about bringing it to school."

"And you never lost a piece?" she asked.

"Of course not!" he snapped. "I would have told you if I had!" He paused, realizing he'd shouted a bit too loudly, and muttered a quick apology. "I'm just not sure how any of this would be possible, unless…" He took a deep breath and sighed. "Unless we didn't actually take all of the chalk from Newland and the others."

"What?" Snap cried from behind the portal, causing both of them to look to him. "Of course we did! They didn't have anythin' left to show those people on TV, and if they did, they would have, believe me!"

"Snap's right," Penny stated, seeming even more perplexed by the situation. "I can't see a reason they would keep a piece of magic chalk secret, after they so badly wanted to show it to the world." She sighed. "I can't think of any other explanation, unless there's an open portal somewhere."

"But I close all the portals I use!" Rudy protested. "I hardly even go into ChalkZone from any place other than the school or our rooms!" He paused. "And we don't know how long it'll be until Shift does something else! He didn't exactly give us a time limit, or-"

"He's not going to destroy the city if he wants supplies from it!" Penny pointed out. "I mean, remember what Newland did. He just wanted to scare you. This…could be like that."

"I suppose so," Rudy murmured, realizing that she did have a good point. "But what if there is a portal somewhere? We'd have to find it before anyone else…from either world…got their hands on it."

Penny nodded and remained silent, and Rudy stared almost absentmindedly into the ChalkZone sky through the portal. There had to be something they were missing, and he wished once again that they could somehow find a way to discover what Shift was actually doing. "It's getting late," Penny said after a moment. "We need to return to my room soon."

"I know," Rudy sighed. He stared down at the tape in his hands, knowing that, at least, it would be far out of Newland's reach after he hid it somewhere within Snap's house. He sighed. "We'd better go."

Without a word, he and Penny lowered themselves back into ChalkZone, and Rudy, still thinking about what Penny had said, wiped away the portal before they carried on.

**ooo**

It wasn't until the next morning that Rudy suddenly remembered something he'd neglected to think of the previous day. He was anxious to talk to Penny and Snap about it, but didn't have a chance until during recess at school when they were able to sneak away into ChalkZone. Luckily, they had the whole recess period ahead of them this time, and were able to make the journey to Snap's house by plane. Rudy thought back to the previous evening, when he had snuck back into ChalkZone after dinner and drawn a hidden safe in the walls of one of the rooms of Snap's house, a carefully concealed place for him to put the copy of the tape he'd had in his room. He still had the chalk version as well, and opted to keep it where he'd originally hidden it, thinking that if Newland somehow got his hands on it, he wouldn't think to look for another one.

The three of them sat together on the balcony on the top story of the house, the Wait N' Sea in clear view for miles ahead. "I didn't think of this yesterday," Rudy was saying, "but there was one day…it was about three weeks ago…when I did lose a piece of magic chalk for a day."

"What? How?" Penny responded, shocked, and unsure what to think of Rudy's news, and astonished that he could have forgotten such a thing.

Snap looked like he felt this all but confirmed the existence of a portal somewhere the three of them did not know about. "Well, where'd ya lose it, Bucko?" he asked worriedly.

"Well it wasn't actually _lost…_" Rudy began. "It was just left in my backpack when I lent it to my Aunt Tillie to use to bring some of Sophie's things when they went to a Zoo in Orangeapolis."

"You mean Sophie could have gotten her hands on it again?" Penny replied, astonished. "Why didn't you tell us about this before?" She and Snap exchanged startled glances, and Rudy realized that they were both shocked that this had happened and he hadn't ever told them.

"Well, you weren't able to come to my house that day," Rudy explained, looking to Penny, "and Snap was still in the hospital, but…but _nothing happened!_ I realized there was still a piece left after she'd left with the backpack, but when I got it back the chalk was still there, and didn't seem like anyone had used it, and there was only that one piece…I just didn't think it was worth worrying you two about at the time."

"Well, if this is the only thing you can think of," Penny began with a concerned look, "then unless we find out that this Shift villain is lying or doesn't have a way to the Real World _yet_, then that's probably how a portal could have been left open." Her gaze was worried and serious, and Rudy felt suddenly ashamed that he had neglected the fact that there had been a piece of chalk still in his backpack that day. With everything that had been going on at the time, and how much he had been trying to help the Zoners after the devastating attacks from Newland's monsters, he hadn't realized it until his aunt had already left. "…Unless this has to do with Newland, which I'm not sure is likely," Penny continued, and Rudy thought back to what she'd previously said, knowing that at least the evidence against it being Newland's doing was strong.

"I hope you're right," Rudy murmured as he leaned his hands on the balcony railing, feeling a cool wind breeze through his hair as he stared out toward the sea.

"I think what we need to do now is figure out where this zoo is in relation to ChalkZone," Penny said after a few moments. "If there is…somehow…a portal that no one's noticed, it's got to be around there. That's where Sophie would have had the backpack."

"I guess so…" Rudy replied. "But what I don't understand is…how could there be a portal open for that long…that no one knew about? Unless…" His voice trailed off for a moment. "Unless it actually does have something to do with Newland, or…or someone else." He still wasn't quite sure what to think, and although he wished he could rule out exactly what it was they needed to be looking out for, he did realize that Penny's idea was the most sensible for now. They didn't exactly have anything else to look for. However, finding out where the zoo was could take time, even if he did know a few places in ChalkZone that corresponded with areas in Orangeapolis. "How much time do you think we'll have after school?" he asked.

"We could probably buy a bit more time than we had yesterday," she responded. "I'll ask my mom about it when we get home."

"Good idea," Rudy replied, feeling the tiniest bit better, "and at least a portal should be fairly visible from the ChalkZone side." As he said this, he realized that it was likely that beings from ChalkZone could have escaped into the Real World, unless Shift or anyone following him was guarding it, which seemed likely. He realized for the first time that their excursion might be dangerous, and he hoped that Shift would want to avoid drawing attention to the portal with guards. After the three friends discussed their plans further and Rudy and Penny got ready to go back, Rudy could only hope that he'd be able to find that portal, and close it, soon.

**ooo**

In the afternoon, Rudy and Penny met up in ChalkZone beside Penny's portal immediately after they returned from school. Using the same plane Rudy had drawn the day before, they made their way to Snap's house and picked him up before heading toward an area they knew would be somewhere close to the zoo – the ChalkZone side of the Orangeapolis sports arena.

Rudy remembered the place from when he'd snuck to the School of Destruction concert, and he figured that if they explored the areas of ChalkZone near there, they could find where the zoo was and at least narrow down their search for a portal. He had voiced his concerns to the others about running into something like guards working for Shift, but Penny had reassured him, saying that if there were guards, it would be obvious, as well as a clear indication of where the portal was. He was also a bit concerned about how to search for the zoo without his portals being spotted by anyone from the Real World. He had decided to draw a small hole through each chalk surface, so he could make sure the coast was clear before getting a better look. He knew it might be tricky, as if there were people around and he couldn't draw a full portal, it would be hard to see much through such a tiny opening.

As soon as they reached the area he recognized from the School of Destruction incident, Rudy and the others took a moment to look around. It was an area covered with small purple mountains and hills along with the occasional crudely drawn pine tree. There didn't seem to be much of a hiding place for a window into the Real World, but Rudy knew there might be one further on. From what he remembered, the floor of the concert stage was actually many feet up in the air on the ChalkZone side, and he realized that they would need a good way to reach any other chalkboards in the surrounding area.

Landing the plane, he began to sketch a helicopter they could use to hover close to the chalk surfaces so Rudy could draw the portals. After the machine was completed, the three of them climbed in and Rudy maneuvered it into the sky, keeping a look out for chalk surfaces in the area. They first came across one that turned out to be a backstage room in the stadium, and moved further away to look for a place that both corresponded somewhere outside and was somewhere relatively secluded. They saw plenty of sidewalk chalk surfaces as they continued on, but there was little way to tell where a good place to sneak in would be, and the horizontal surface made it more difficult for Rudy to reach from the helicopter. He managed to do so by drawing a rope harness for himself and carefully leaning out the side. During his first few attempts, he could hear footsteps close by and had to quickly erase the tiny hole he'd created.

After several failed tries, he finally managed to find a place that was quiet, and, after the three held still and listened for a minute or so, waiting in case anyone had heard the sound of the helicopter and was coming to investigate, Rudy risked drawing a bigger portal and carefully peered out. He had drawn the portal on a path between two shops, and luckily, there was no one around. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he hauled himself onto the ground in the Real World, untying the rope harness and then turning to look down through the portal and handing it to Penny, who was holding the helicopter in place. "Okay," he whispered, "you two wait here. I'm going to go see if I can ask someone where the zoo is."

Penny and Snap nodded, and Rudy erased the portal. For a short while they waited, seeing no Zoners around aside from the occasional bird or flying pencil, and soon Rudy returned. "I found it!" he exclaimed excitedly after opening a new portal in the sidewalk. "I could see the zoo from the next street!"

"That's great, Rudy!" cried Penny, and looked to him with relief as he climbed carefully back down into the helicopter and erased the portal.

"Now all we gotta do is find a way into there," Snap agreed.

"Yeah," Rudy responded. "I'll find a place to sneak in and search from the Real World side, while you two stay here and look for any signs of the portal in ChalkZone."

"That's a good idea," Penny replied as she and Rudy switched places so he could maneuver the helicopter in the direction he'd seen the zoo. "At least we should be able to see any light from a portal around here," she added, noting that the clouds drifting through the sky above them provided a sort of shade that was not usually present in such bright DayZone areas.

"Yeah!" said Rudy. "And it would have to be noticeable from the Real World…that might mean that it's somewhere people don't usually go, or we would have heard all about their discovery by now." He could at least feel reassured that there was little chance someone would keep quiet about finding a portal to another dimension.

"Maybe there's a disused area somewhere?" Penny asked, and Rudy responded that he thought that was probably likely, and he'd keep a look out for any such place while in the Real World.

After a few miscalculations, Rudy finally managed to find a chalk surface that led him into a small restaurant. Upon first discovering it, he almost erased the peephole and turned back, when he noticed from the shop's decoration's that it was obviously part of the zoo, and there was no one currently there. He waited for about a minute, and after he heard the one employee he had seen leave to the back for a moment, he drew a larger circle and quickly slipped out of the shop and into the zoo grounds, leaving Penny and Snap to erase the portal.

Once outside, he looked around, observing nothing unusual, not that he expected to notice anything strange right away. There were several other visitors walking on the paths nearby or looking at the animal exhibits. No one paid him any attention, and he immediately set about to looking for any place that could possibly hide a portal to ChalkZone. He felt immediately intimidated, as the place was a fair bit larger than the Plainville Zoo. He told himself that a window to another world couldn't go unnoticed just anywhere, and that at least narrowed it down, and he could avoid the open and clear areas. He tried to think of anywhere that his cousin could have wandered off alone, and realized as he did so that it would be unlikely she'd strayed far from the paths without anyone noticing, which left him feeling frustrated and confused. Nonetheless, he picked a direction and started walking, keeping his eye out for anything that looked like it could be a possible hiding place.

He wondered if there could be a place like a disused building that could have a chalkboard, but as he walked past each animal enclosure quickly, and even when he quickly checked a zoo map, he could see no such thing. There were no hidden chalk surfaces near any of the paths, even when he took the time to check certain places in detail. His behavior was earning him some odd looks from other visitors, and he simply ignored them, but despite this, he was unable to find anything close to what he was looking for.

Luckily, most of the path areas were open without any places that could hide anything, so Rudy covered a lot of ground quickly by simply walking and briefly looking around as he did so. After he was sure he had walked every path in the zoo, he hurriedly searched in any building he could find – the restaurants, the gift shop, and even the bathroom – but there was simply no sign of a portal whatsoever. Knowing that the only buildings left were those the zookeepers alone had access to, he had to admit that there wasn't any more he could do from the Real World side.

Feeling both exhausted and defeated, he left the zoo and found an empty, deserted alley that allowed him to draw a new portal. Swinging his legs and leaning down, he quickly drew rocket attachments to his shoes before he lowered himself in, erased it, and went to look for the others.

It didn't take long, but once he found them, Rudy could tell immediately that their search attempt had been just as unsuccessful as his was. "Nothing?" he asked sadly, already knowing the answer.

His friends shook their heads. "We looked everywhere, Bucko," Snap sighed with disappointment.

Penny held up the piece of chalk Rudy had given her upon them entering ChalkZone as Rudy lowered the helicopter to the ground. "I managed to calculate where the ChalkZone side of the zoo ended, but…Rudy, if there was a portal, there's no way we could have missed it. There's simply no way to hide it." She took a deep breath. "Do you know of anywhere else Sophie could have taken the chalk?"

Rudy shook his head as he stepped out of the helicopter and onto the chalky grass. "No, I mean…they wanted my backpack to bring Sophie's coloring books and art supplies along for whenever she needed to rest at the zoo. I don't know where else she would have gone."

Penny and Snap were silent for a moment, each thinking to themselves. "Well, that leaves four options," Penny began after Rudy shot her another worried look. "Either Shift is lying, he doesn't have access to the Real World _yet_, there's somehow an open portal somewhere else, or…" She trailed off, and Rudy and Snap looked to each other nervously, knowing exactly what the fourth option would be.

"…Or there's another creator in on this," Rudy finished grimly.

Penny nodded and then moved her eyes to the ground. "Yes…" She took another breath before looking to Rudy again. "But…we don't know for sure," she said quickly, unwilling to believe such a thing so soon without evidence.

Rudy, however, didn't look any less anxious. "I think I know what we have to do now," he said.

Penny and Snap focused their attention on him again, peering at him from their positions on the helicopter seats as he paced back and forth on the grass. They were unsure exactly what he was suggesting, and Rudy's worried tone did little to reassure them.

Rudy looked determinedly at his friends as slapped his fist down on his palm. "We need to find out what's going on…from Shift himself."

"But Rudy, we don't even know who…or _what_…he is," Penny said quietly, "we don't even know _where_ he is."

"Then we'll have to find out…somehow…" Rudy realized as he said it that neither he nor his friends had any idea where to begin looking, and it was likely that Shift was located somewhere hidden, out of the range of the police or anyone else that could search him out. He didn't have a clue where that could be. But one thing was certain; they would need to find out soon. Whether Shift was lying about the portal or not, it was too big a risk to wait to take action. There was no reply from his friends, but Rudy could tell that they both knew he was right. This was the only way they had to find out anything for sure.

"We really need to be getting back," Penny said worriedly after she checked the time. "We'll need to figure out what we're going to do tomorrow." With only a nod in reply, Rudy climbed back into the helicopter with her and Snap, and they took off.

**ooo**

They made it back to Snap's house mere minutes before they knew they would have to return to the Real World. They gave their friend a hasty goodbye before heading back to their houses. Snap watched his friends leave before heading back inside his house numbly, still startled and unsure what to think of the sudden turn of events. He cast one last nervous look at the retreating sight of his friends before he closed the door.

Near the house, a small butterfly, with wings that camouflaged perfectly with the sand it rested upon, suddenly moved from its still position and took to the air. None of the beach goers paid it any mind, despite the fact that its fluttering wings prevented it from blending in with the blue sky, even though they could take on its color. The small insect fluttered past a group of Zoners playing volleyball, one of whom swiped at it in irritation, but missed. Moving higher into the air, the butterfly then headed toward a large building of ChalkZone City overlooking the beach, moving slowly but determinedly in its direction. When it reached the massive structure, it landed vertically on the wall, high above the road and bustle of cars beneath it, and near a small, square device that was so well blended in that it could not have been noticeable to anyone who wasn't specifically looking for it.

The butterfly reached out with one thin, fragile leg and pushed a series of tiny invisible buttons on the surface of the device, which was only a fraction as big as the creature itself. A small sound emanated from it, and the butterfly took this as its cue.

"Rudy and his friends were spotted in ChalkZone at around 6:15 PM," the insect said in a small, squeaky voice, peering over with its large eyes at a massive clock on a building near the one it had landed on. "And I've found where Snap's living quarters are. That's what you wanted, right?"

Somewhere dark and secluded, the butterfly's tiny voice rang through a small monitor, something akin to a P.A. system. It echoed a bit, as the room was fairly large and empty, reverberating off the walls and amplifying the butterfly's small voice. The only lighting in the room was a dull lamp that shone down on a hunk of machinery that had a crude, makeshift look, as it was composed of what appeared to be spare parts, but there was an obvious expertise to the design, giving it the appearance that whoever had built it had certainly known what they were doing.

All was quiet for a few minutes, the butterfly repeating its message a few times, and a light on the device beneath the lamp blinked, and the sound of something large shifting in the darkness with a strange, almost rattling sound broke the silence. A long, metallic claw reached out, sliding across the metal surface with a high-pitched screech until it touched a button on the machinery. Another small light flicked on near one end of the structure, and a grating voice, sounding almost like a hiss, spoke. "That is all I need." With that, the small light flickered off again, and the being lowered himself to the floor, his claws making loud clicking sounds as they scraped along the smooth surface.

After what his hidden subjects had told him about Rudy Tabootie and what he'd told the Zoners of the city, he knew that he wasn't, or at least not soon, getting the supplies he'd demanded, and Shift had decided it was time to send another warning. If Rudy and his friends were getting in the way, then it was a good time to eliminate one of them. Killing off one of the three who had become the city's heroes after the attacks from Bob Newland and his accomplices would motivate the city's inhabitants a lot more than his last plan had.

At first, the obvious choice had been Rudy. He was, as the protector of ChalkZone and the Great Creator, the one Zoners looked up to above anyone else. However, the time Rudy had been seen in ChalkZone did not suit Shift's needs, nor did the idea of having to wait for him to enter in the first place. Facing the magic chalk did not appeal to him either, for that matter, and as sure as he was that he would not give Rudy any time to use it against him, he did not want another potentially harmful factor to be thrown in on top of anything else. And ChalkZone's "protector" could be unpredictable. What he needed was a quick, easy way to send a message to ChalkZone City, not to tangle with the creators. That left one more, much simpler, option. Instead of waiting for Rudy or Penny to return, he would target the member of the group who did not leave ChalkZone's realms, who had no power over the magic chalk, and therefore was a much easier target.

Their injured friend.


	6. In the Dark

**Cryptic Infiltration**

**Chapter Six – In the Dark**

The following day, all Rudy could think about during his time at school was finding the Zoner called Shift and discovering just _what_ his link to the Real World was, if he did have one at all. Rudy still wasn't sure what to think about such a prospect, but he could only hope that the strange new villain was bluffing. He hoped that he and Penny would have enough time to search ChalkZone for answers, but it was only Wednesday, and they wouldn't have an opportunity to sneak away unnoticed for a long while until the weekend. Though Penny had managed to convince him that it did seem unlikely that Bob Newland, or another creator, would have the chalk and simply decide not to show anyone in the Real World, he knew he wouldn't be able to relax until he found out for sure.

The problem he faced, however, was that he had no idea where to look, and no real clue where the dragonflies had come from either. During the first recess, Penny had suggested looking up information in a ChalkZone library about the dragonflies. She had thought that it might give them a clue as to where Shift could be, as it made sense that he would use creatures that lived near wherever his hideout would be. The two of them had headed to the newly built ChalkZone City library, only to find that it had not yet acquired many books after the original library had been destroyed in Newland's termite attack. They planned to meet up right after school again and search another town or city's library, and maybe ask some Zoners they thought might be able to give them a lead. Rudy only hoped that this wasn't a new species with no information on them yet, but if it wasn't, he didn't think they would have trouble narrowing the search down. At least he was confident that they still had a little while to figure out what to do, knowing that Shift wouldn't do anything drastic to harm the city if he wanted its supplies. He had no idea if any of this was connected to what had happened at Canyon Park, the Chalk Mine, or the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, or to the strange remnants of the lab they found, but the odd events, especially after things had been peaceful for the most part the past few weeks, greatly confused him.

During the lunch recess, he quickly met up with Penny to discuss it with her in secret. Knowing they wouldn't have much time to search for anything in a library, they simply found a secluded spot in ChalkZone where they could plan out what they would do when they returned home that afternoon.

"I'm not convinced he's telling the truth," Penny muttered as she sat beneath a tree that appeared to be sprouting jelly cubes from its branches. "How could he have access to the Real World without anyone else noticing? Someone would be able to tell if there was a portal open somewhere."

"Not unless he was making sure no other Zoners wandered out of it," Rudy sighed. "If it was in a secluded place, people in the Real World might not notice it either."

"But it just doesn't make sense," Penny replied with a shake of her head. "How would it have gotten there in the first place?"

"I don't know," Rudy sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned his head forward. He waited a moment before opening them. "The other option is…there's a creator working with him."

"Rudy…" Penny began, sensing his growing worry. "I think…I think if that were the case, we'd know by now, one way or another. It didn't sound like Shift had just found this…whatever it was he'd found; it seemed like he'd already taken the time to utilize it. I don't know of anyone after the chalk who would wait long to do something with it. And you did say that the piece you left in the backpack that Sophie took the zoo was returned with it; if anyone had found it knowing what it was, they would have taken it. And if they'd managed to draw a portal, they wouldn't have simply returned it to the backpack and forgotten about it."

"Yeah, you're right," Rudy responded, feeling a bit relieved already. He was glad that Penny could think things out so logically, when his own judgment was clouded. "So I guess the most likely possibility is that Sophie could have drawn a portal _somewhere_, or…or Newland and the others did somewhere when they had it, but forgot about, or, Shift was just making all this up."

"That sounds about right," Penny stated with a nod, though there was still worry in her voice. They both began to think of another factor, and wondered what sort of damage Shift could wreak on ChalkZone with access to the Real World if he had it.

"Maybe we could ask the Zoners if they know anything about a portal?" Rudy asked, glancing in the direction ChalkZone City lay. "I think we've got enough time before the end of lunch."

"It seems doubtful that the ones from ChalkZone City would," Penny replied with another shake of her head. "They all seemed just as clueless as we were, and if someone _did_ know, they would have alerted the police…"

"You're right about that too," Rudy answered with a sigh. "We'd have to ask the Zoners in nearby towns."

"That would make the most sense," Penny began, though the thought of how far they might have to search was intimidating, especially if Shift had made efforts to conceal the portal. "Or…or maybe we could ask them if they've seen anything that looked strange…anything that could be from the Real World? Even just an item?"

Rudy was a bit surprised that he hadn't thought of that earlier. "That's a good idea," he mused, "I just hope Shift wasn't too concerned about leaving things lying around."

"It might not have even been him using this portal," Penny said thoughtfully. "It could have been one of his underlings." She looked at Rudy and shrugged. "It's worth a try."

"You're right," Rudy agreed, feeling more hopeful. Finding out about the dragonflies didn't seem a hard task, and if luck was on their side, finding Shift wouldn't be either. The mysterious portal, however, was something that nagged at him a bit more, if only because of the uncertainty surrounding the subject and any potential solution. He tried not to think too much on what Shift could do with anything from the Real World, as there wasn't much they could do without enough information, though he hoped that would change soon. "Well, let's meet up right after school and see what we can find out," Rudy suggested, knowing that there wasn't enough time left in the lunch period for them to go off on a search. "Snap will be at Rapsheeba's concert, so we can head to one of the towns or ask the ChalkZone City police if they've found anything, and then meet up with him after that." The previous recess, Snap had informed them about the concert, which was taking place soon before the school let out. Rudy knew that it probably wouldn't be finished by the time they'd get home, so they had agreed that he and Penny would begin their search and then meet with Snap later.

"Good idea," said Penny, standing up and glancing toward the portal they'd made in the chalkboard of an empty classroom, which was hovering not far from where they were resting. She mentioned to Rudy that it would be a good idea to head back a bit early, just to make sure they had enough time to get back to class without looking suspicious, and then began to climb up through the opening. "With any luck we'll get to the bottom of this."

"Yeah," Rudy agreed as he followed her, thinking back to the numerous strange events that had occurred during the past week. "_All_ of this."

**ooo**

Snap set a rubber glove on the edge of the sink after pulling out the plug. He watched with contentment as the murky water began to drain down the hole in the bottom of the basin. The water had lost its bubbly consistency after the pile of dishes he had stacked to his left had been reduced to nothing but a single glass, which he managed to successfully clean with the one hand that was currently usable. The other arm, hanging from the sling around his neck, was comfortably resting against his front. He was careful not to hurt it when tasks required him to move it or adjust its position, and found that keeping it against his middle was fairly sensible.

"Too bad Blocky had to take Musty to the vet," he sighed, grabbing a handtowel from beside his sink and drying his hand with it. He glanced to the drying rack, which was crowded with the set of dishes he planned to deposit into their rightful places. "He coulda helped me with these things." He mentally shrugged, figuring that it did not matter if it took a little longer than he would have liked. He smirked to himself at the fact. "Ah, I have plenty of time."

After finishing his job with the dishes, he glanced at the kitchen bench and swiped one of the sponges from the side of the sink. He had washed it in the dishwater sometime during the washing process and he was happy to see it clean; there was nothing more disgusting than trying to clean grime off a counter with more grime. When that was complete, he chuckled to himself and nodded a single time; he was happy with it.

He glanced to the clock on the wall behind him, taking note of the directions the hands were pointing in, and used his crutch to help him reach his front door. Reaffirming that he had everything he needed – a few notes in one pocket and coins that jingled in the other – he smiled and reached into a fold in the sling near his shoulder which was perfect for keeping small trinkets. He withdrew a key and exited his house, locking it after he closed the door.

Whirling around to the bright sky shining down on him and the pleasant atmosphere the Wait N' Sea beach usually held, Snap gave a small smile. "Now this is the place to be. Well, unless, like moi, you got a concert to go to."

He tried not to focus on the fact that there had been rather worrisome threat to ChalkZone City – the villain who called himself Shift – as he told himself that as things were currently peaceful and there wasn't much anyone could do until Rudy found a solution, it was not worth thinking about for the moment. Rudy and Penny were coming into ChalkZone after their school day finished, and they would meet up with him after the concert and discuss anything they'd found. Snap was sure they would find something—they were always able to come up with a solution to problems that threatened his home, and although most of the time his assistance was a highly valued asset, he was sure that if they required his help, they would ask for it when he joined them later that afternoon. But for now, he had plans.

Snap took a breath and moved off toward the small shop he had planned to visit before the concert. His initial intentions to get Rapsheeba a present had run along the lines of something large to symbolize his generosity, but that had fallen away once he considered reality a factor; something so large would be too heavy for him to carry, and unethical to bring to a concert venue. Even if he could have arrived with it somehow, he would have to wait for the concert to finish to give it to her, and carry it around with him in the meantime. Another option would be to leave it by the door, but he did not trust other Zoners to simply walk by it without trying to snatch it.

"Looks like I'll be gettin' 'er a card," he mused to himself, hoping that that it would be enough. "Maybe some'm else, too, but I guess I'll have to wait to find out what they sell at that place."

The journey to the store was a little more arduous than he had imagined, and although it didn't injure him, it left him feeling a little worn out. On the way, his mind turned with the possibilities that were seeping into his mind despite his efforts to focus on less worrying subjects. Shift, the Zoner who had claimed to have access to a portal into the Real World, could have been anyone around him. There was nothing to suggest that another customer at the shop Snap was about to go was not Shift, or even the shopkeeper themselves. He could not know, but he also felt as if he was being fooled this whole time; perhaps he was even being manipulated by somebody he knew.

"Aw, come on, Snap," he murmured to himself with a minor spark of disapproval, "you can't think about that now!" His protest led him back to the present, where he travelled slowly up the road that he knew would lead him to his destination. He eyed the cars rolling by, almost a little envious of them, but reminded himself that, even while injured, he still needed to get plenty of exercise. The doctor he had seen for his leg had even advised that he get exercise, even if it was something that he would have thought to keep away from given his leg's condition.

Snap felt feelings of elation stir in him as he placed his thoughts to the concert. He was always inspired by Rapsheeba's singing. It placed a special sense of hope into his mind and made him feel as if he could do anything from discovering Shift's secrets to healing the broken bones in his body and the wounds on his skin. There was little he could do about them but wait; time was the best healer, as well as other practical things such as medicine, but music was how he healed mentally.

He had been partially scarred by the events that had occurred when Newland had reign over the city, and other nearby parts of ChalkZone. The artist's attack on him a short time before he was forced to make his sacrifice in the Chalk Mine was most haunting, an event which filled him with horror even in memory. He had been intentionally targeted and tortured before his friends, and he feared to wonder what could have happened had Rudy not relinquished his chalk. Despite that, he regretted nothing; his actions had ultimately saved him, his friends, and the whole of ChalkZone.

He bound his eyes as he thought back to that moment, realizing with a speck of surprise that he was clenching his jaws. He released them and slowly allowed his eyelids to unseal with a breath, shaking his head to rid it of the memories crowding his mind. "Glad that's over..." he muttered, focusing his thoughts on the fact that soon enough he would be at the concert. His first stop was the shop, of course, but that did not stop him from being excited about the event afterwards. He only hoped that Rapsheeba would like his card; last time he had felt the need to get her a card, it had been an infuriating little Zoner whose greetings were less than welcome. He would certainly not make _that_ mistake again.

When he finally reached the store, he hobbled his way through the entrance and glanced around. He had come in through the back way, which he was chastised for when a shop worker, a tiny mouse with long whiskers and a nose glowing with a yellow sheen, caught sight of him, but Snap only told him that he had no knowledge that he had entered through the wrong way.

The store was a small one, but he did not doubt that it sold what he wanted. Down the five aisles it had were assorted food items suited to a number of different Zoners, ranging from packeted mulch for the plant-like Zoners to nuts and bolts for certain mechanical citizens. After walking the width of the store, glancing down each aisle as he did so, Snap sighed and thought to himself about the present he wanted to get Rapsheeba. He had more than enough money to get her something on top of a card, but as he considered his options again, he decided it would have to be something little. Chocolates sounded good, so he turned to the shopkeeper, who was cleaning a telescope with what looked to be a large drop of water in the end – how it did not burst Snap did not know – after limping to the counter. He was a tall moose-like animal whose antlers were shaped like clouds, and a worn tan apron was draped over his front. Snap removed his right leg from the ground and rested against his crutch, clearing his throat.

The shopkeeper took a moment to look at him, and when he did, it was first through the telescope. Snap stood there as the moose grew a funny-looking smile and then brought down the telescope. His low, round voice sounded somewhat dopey, but friendly nonetheless. "Are you looking for medical supplies, by any chance?"

"No," Snap began, about to speak again when he was cut off.

"Darn!" the moose shouted, swiping his arm across the air and somehow clicking his hooves in playful defeat.

"What, this a guessing show or something?" Snap wondered, glancing over his shoulder to survey the store as a joke.

The moose chuckled. "No, my store isn't that famous." He set the telescope down and laid his arms on the bench, hunching his shoulder as he bent over and leaned on his arms. "So, what can I get for you?" Before Snap could answer, the moose straightened up and gestured to the mouse Snap had seen earlier. "He's got quick little feet and his whiskers seek out stuff he's looking for like...little radars or something. Ask him to get you something." The rodent worker, the tip of his ears not reaching far past Snap's ankle, shot his boss an aggravated look but said nothing as he wiped a mark off the lower part of the bench beside Snap.

"Uhh...yeah, that'd be great." He turned to the mouse. "Get me a card. Somethin' nice. Something a little fancy." As the mouse moved off and Snap continued to think, he spoke out again. "Oh, and nothin' too fancy. Just somethin'...I dunno...a little elegant?" As the worker sighed and began to move again, Snap made another noise, remembering something else. The mouse watched him with an irritated glare. "Maybe some chocolates too?"

"Yeah...sure," the small rodent grunted somewhat grudgingly and walked off toward the fourth aisle. He scuttled along the ground, his whiskers pointing the way to the items he was seeking.

Snap watched him go, turning back to the shopkeeper. "That's a pretty nifty trick!"

"Oh, trust me, it comes in handy every time I lose something," the moose chuckled, leaning back down on the counter using his left arm. He brushed the knuckles of his right hoof on his apron and then pulled it away to scan it, rotating it around. He then looked back to Snap and raised his eyebrows, although his eyelids remained halfway down his eyes, and gave a contented smile. "So...what's your gifts for?" He raised an eyebrow. "Special occasion?"

"Yeah," Snap responded happily, his mind throwing itself back to the concert. "I got this concert I'm goin' to, and—"

"Ohh, Queen Rapsheeba, right?" the moose questioned, a smug smile creeping onto his face as he angled the wrist of the arm he was leaning on to awkwardly point. "What a voice! I gotta say, my favourite singer, hands down." He glanced to his arms and then back to Snap, chuckling, "Or hooves, if you got 'em."

"You got that right," Snap agreed with a nod.

The soft patter of the mouse's tiny feet on the floorboards caught Snap's attention, and as he laid his eyes on the small animal, he brightened. "Here's your stuff," the shop worker grunted, scattering them at Snap's feet. Snap glared at the mouse as he scurried away, annoyed that he had to bend over to collect them. When he did, making sure to lift his right leg and lean against the counter with his left shoulder to reach down with the same arm, he collected the small bag of chocolates and the card, which looked appropriate, and unloaded them on the counter.

As the moose scanned the items, a vague thought popped into Snap's head. "Hey, Moosey... Do you have the time?"

The moose did not make eye contact as he reached down and gathered a small clock, setting it on the bench. "That'll be four-fifty."

Snap acknowledged the price and watched the clock's eyes pop up. Blue light glowed from them as a voice from the clock said, "The time is: three...seventeen."

"What?" Snap blurted, a flinch scaling his body. He cringed and then blinked several times. "No, that's gotta be wrong."

"Is something the matter?" questioned the shopkeeper.

"Yeah, something's the matter! I'm gonna be late! The concert starts at three-thirty, and I still got a bus to take." He snatched the bag of chocolates and the card from the counter and then paused, as if he had remembered something. Suddenly he set the items back down and requested a bag, which the shopkeeper agreed to.

"You want me to help you attach it to your crutch?" he asked, and Snap, his mind rushing with thoughts, was a little unsure of what to say at first, but nodded dismissively.

"Yeah, whatever; just do it fast."

The moose rounded the corner with a bag in hand and scooped the items into the bag, threading the handles through the crutch between the armpit pad and the part Snap's hand gripped, and then fit the whole bag through the handles. It tightened around the metal of the crutch, sure not to go anywhere unless the bag itself was to fall apart. While the moose did this, Snap reached into his pocket while leaning on the crutch and pulled out a note accompanied by a collection of coins, not paying attention to the sum it added up to.

As soon as the shopkeeper pulled away, Snap promptly thanked him and whirled around, hobbling off toward the door. As the moose watched him go, he gave a small sigh, hoping the Zoner would enjoy himself at the concert even if he arrived a little late. He removed his hand from his hip as the customer departed the store and, upon noting the money, used both hands to count the coins. He frowned a little as he went over the money a few times; it soon became apparent that the Zoner had given him three dollars extra by mistake. He ensured that his calculation had been accurate and went through it again, glancing to the exit as he did so.

Just as he was about to pursue the overpaying patron, two of the coins slipped from his hooves and clattered against the floor, causing him to scowl and bend over to collect them again. Once he did, he rushed to the door, turning around to quickly shout to his rodent worker and notify him that he needed to watch the shop for a minute.

When the mouse called back in reluctant agreement, the moose exited the store and saw the blue and white Zoner disappearing down an alleyway that led to another street not too far away. He heaved a sigh and began on his way, having to stop for a moment as a group of Zoners suddenly burst out from one of the shops before him. He excused himself as he worked his way between them, scowling as he was held up by two large Zoners who took their time to clear the way. He finally emerged and, with a growl directed to those behind him, jogged toward the alleyway.

He realized he was in a bit of an unnecessary hurry, considering the customer obviously wouldn't have been able to travel far in such a short amount of time, but he was eager to get back to the shop even if he was sure his coworker would be able to handle everything in his absence. He entered the alleyway he'd seen the blue boy head into, pausing for a moment as he realized it branched off in a few directions between several shops, and picking up his pace so that he could check down every path in search of the customer.

He quickly peered into the nearest two side paths before realizing that the boy was likely to head to the one leading to the main street if he wanted to catch a bus to get to the concert he had mentioned. That would mean that he would have followed the main path of the alleyway, which led toward a building and then turned to run alongside its front, veering toward the nearest street.

As he was going over the situation in his mind and thinking about the Zoner whose money he was seeking to return, it suddenly struck him that he had recognized the customer. He was unsure how it had slipped his mind before, but now it was clear: he had seen him on the news a few weeks prior alongside his friends, one of them the Great Creator, Rudy Tabootie. His name was Snap, if he recalled correctly, one of Tabootie's creations. He felt as if he ought to have known more about the incident the news had been portraying, as Rudy and his friends had done something very important to save ChalkZone, but he was fairly newly drawn, and he had been too preoccupied with the city's repairs and starting up his own shop to pay much attention to the details of the story. He made a small grunt of acknowledgement to himself and continued to focus on his task.

Picking up his pace, he headed toward the turn in the path, but as he neared it, the sounds of some sort of struggle up ahead stopped him in his tracks. The voice behind the shouts coming from around the corner was instantly recognizable; it belonged to the customer he was trying to find. He did not sound in pain, merely frightened, and it became apparent that whatever was happening was happening against his will. Immediately alarmed, as it was clear that the blue and white Zoner was in danger, the moose wanted nothing more than to run to his aid, but something, some strange warning feeling he couldn't quite place that went beyond mere apprehension and fear at the situation itself, made him pause. Everything in his mind was telling him to turn and flee, that whatever was around the turn in the alleyway was something he should avoid at all costs, something worse than a random Zoner committing some petty crime.

However, he ignored that feeling, knowing that the Zoner who had come to his shop was in some sort of terrible danger. Rounding the corner, he realized at once that in his brief moment of hesitation, he had waited too long. A group of strange Zoners, each of them a robot, but all with widely varying features, were standing in a group at one end of the alleyway near a strange looking vehicle sitting on the street near it. The car, coated with darkly-toned layered metal and consisting of a generally robotic appearance, didn't look out of place compared to some of the other vehicles in ChalkZone City, but there was something foreboding about it, and it was blocking the entrance to the alley while the vehicle's owners faced it, their backs to the shopkeeper.

For a moment, one of the robots, a somewhat small gray one that looked like it had been built out of pieces of scrap, turned its single red eye on the shopkeeper, who nearly stopped in surprise. To his confusion, the robot did nothing; it didn't even alert the others, the largest of whom was holding the injured customer.

Hardly believing what he was doing, the moose raised a hoof and shouted, "Stop!"

This time, all of the robots turned around. As the largest one did, his captive swung with him and was suddenly in view of the moose, looking at him with widened eyes. He was evidently frightened as he dangled, clearly stripped of any sort of control. Whimpers escaped his mouth as his terrified stare bored into the moose's eyes, nearly startling him with the magnitude of fear it was so quick to convey. The shopkeeper could see the desperation in Snap's eyes, and he felt the intense drive to do _something_, to somehow end this Zoner's suffering, but his resolve dissipated into nothing but an impossible desire.

As the blue and white Zoner paused in his struggles, the robot next to the one holding him forced both of Snap's arms behind his back and slapped handcuffs around his wrists, inviting a cry of shock and pain to shoot from his throat. He continued to shout, the injuries the moose was aware the blue boy had sustained clearly being agitated in the process, while two of the other robots wasted no time in rushing in front of their group to confront the moose. Their assortment of weapons, ranging from firearms to sharp implements, was enough to convince the store clerk to stay where he was and keep his distance.

However, the moose's gaze was quickly averted as the largest robot held his victim still for another, who, from behind, slammed his large arm into the back of the small blue Zoner's head. He gave a small grunt before he slumped, unconscious, in his captor's grip. The shopkeeper emitted an impulsive call of protest at the sight, worry clouding his mind. His eyes widened as Snap fell limp, understanding that he would have collapsed onto the pavement if he was not being dangled above it. Immediately after that, the robots dragged him into the open vehicle door and onto a seat. The moose felt his panic heighten as he witnessed the situation take place, the two robotic Zoners before him suddenly losing all interest in him and moving off toward the vehicle. The shopkeeper did not dare to move or speak as the two bearing the weapons pointed at him loaded themselves into the vehicle after the others. The car revved to life and sped off into the street.

Distressed, the moose took off after it, banishing his fears about what terrible things the robots could do, even from inside the car. Upon reaching the road, he watched the vehicle veer off down another street, which the shopkeeper knew led straight to one of the unrepaired parts of the city. He had seen those areas up close before; the degree of the buildings' decay amplified the further in it ventured, some of them reduced nearly to rubble. Other parts had damaged roads and smoke billowing from wrecked, abandoned factories while debris and useless remains spilled from devastated warehouses. It greatly unnerved him, knowing that there were innumerable places to hide in that area, and it was possible that wasn't even their destination at all; the place would allow the car to exit the city without being caught, as not many Zoners inhabited it, or any of the unrepaired parts of the city for that matter. He shouted to what Zoners he could see roaming the streets about the car, and although some cast alarmed looks in its direction, any who could have done anything took too long to respond. Some were confused about his words and others simply ignored him; whatever the reason, nobody was able to do anything.

He cursed under his breath as he watched the vehicle simply drive off, completely out of his power to reach it. He clenched his hooves and felt the hairs on his body stand on end; he had just witnessed a _kidnapping_, which was certainly not something one saw every day. On top of that, he had likely been lucky to escape with his life. Those robot Zoners…they had been ruthless and threatening, and yet unconcerned with what they must have deemed lower life forms, or something not of strict priority, such as him.

Hardly able to believe what had just occurred and still trying to process the situation in his head, the shopkeeper quickly glanced behind him at the alley he had emerged from. He gave a deeper, more inquisitive frown as he noticed Snap's crutch on the ground along with the items he had bought from the shop. The chocolates had been drawn from the bag and were strewn about the place. He quickly picked the crutch up and held it in his hooves for a moment as if in contemplation, wondering if it would somehow help the police or their tracking dogs find him. He knew that the sooner he acted, the better, for Snap's sake and to build a case against whoever had done this to him. Biting his lip with nervousness, he tried in vain to shake the awful feeling from his head, then hurried off with the intention to alert the police.

**ooo**

Rudy lowered himself down from the portal he'd drawn in Penny's chalkboard. Penny quickly followed him, and he beckoned to her to follow him as he thought about what they'd discussed that day at school. It was three-twenty five; Rudy had gone into ChalkZone as soon as he'd arrived home. It was clear to him that, at the moment, the best course of action was to ask anyone in the city if they had found out anything else about Shift or his plans. He figured that there had to be a way that someone had noticed something they'd missed; if Shift had interfered with the TV channels in the city, someone might have noticed something odd prior to that happening. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he glanced toward the city and the beach, where he could see Snap's towering house even at a distance, and wished his friend could have come along with him. However, he knew that Snap was going to see a concert, and Rudy had to admit that he was glad the Zoner would have a chance to enjoy himself, in spite of all that was going on. He imagined that the attack on the city by the dragonflies had been harder for Snap than for him and Penny.

The two children made it to the city quickly, and stood on the edge of a sidewalk bordering a street close to the beach, a little uncertain about where to begin. "Well, we've already checked the police station," Rudy stated, looking to Penny in the hope of guidance. They had already learned of all the evidence the police had to offer, and Rudy focused on trying to think of another place where more answers seemed likely.

"Maybe we should head there anyway," Penny suggested and when Rudy threw a confused look in her direction, she added, "they might have discovered something new in the time we've been at school."

Figuring that was reasonable, Rudy nodded and they hurried toward the area where the police station rested. Luckily it was fairly close, and the buildings damaged during the dragonfly attack had begun to be repaired. However, the place still had a somewhat haunted look, with only a few fearful Zoners out and about. They looked paranoid and frightened, and it was only too clear that what Shift had done had had an effect on the inhabitants of the city.

As they neared the large gray building that was the police station, Rudy's gaze wandered toward a nearby shop with a large television screen on its front. At first Rudy was just surprised that it was still turned on, either it had been undamaged by the fire or quickly replaced, but then he noticed that there was something odd about it. It seemed to be flickering back and forth between different channels, and as they got closer and the noise from it reached them, it sounded distorted and unintelligible. He wondered if it had been damaged after all, and a few moments later, the owner of the shop, a small pig with a baseball cap, peered out of his open shop door and banged his fist against the side of the television in frustration, but the strange flickering between random scenes neither improved nor worsened. Under normal circumstances, Rudy would have offered to help fix it, but their limited time and wide search area made him realize that he had to focus his attention on finding out more about Shift; more minor problems would have to wait. He made a note to himself to draw the Zoner a new television screen for his shop later as he carried on.

However, not far from the pig's shop, there was another building with a television screen, or rather, several. Behind one window, there were rows of small television sets in one of the only other shops left open on that block. Each of them, Rudy noticed with utter confusion, was doing the same odd flickering between channels.

He was about to point it out to Penny, when something else caught his attention. They were only a couple buildings away from the police station, when the doors suddenly burst open. To both his and Penny's shock, Cerberus leapt over the small set of stairs leading to the sidewalk and landed on all four paws at the edge of the street, all three sets of his eyes narrowed in concentration. He didn't even pause to look at the children, though Rudy knew that he had to have known they were there. Whatever he was focused on must have been a serious matter, and it made Rudy worry a moment before he reminded himself that Cerberus was probably just overenthusiastic. Perhaps he was simply beginning some sort of routine patrol of the city.

Penny appeared fairly calm, as if she were thinking the same thing, but as Cerberus turned two of his heads urgently toward the police station doors, his third one still focused intently on the road ahead, and let out a whine of fear, she began to look uneasy. "Cerberus didn't act like that when we were in the jungle…" she whispered, and Rudy cast her an uneasy look.

A moment later one of the police officers, a short round human-like Zoner, rushed out of the building, followed by someone who was clearly just an ordinary civilian. It was a moose that stood upright on two legs and had oddly shaped antlers. He was carrying something in his hooves, but Rudy and Penny couldn't see what it was from their position. Knowing by the serious looks on their faces that this wasn't something they could ignore, the two children hurriedly ran up to them.

"What's going on?" Rudy gasped as the uniformed officer gave a command to Cerberus, who lowered his body down so that he could climb onto his back. The moose followed, although hesitantly.

"Not now, kid," the officer replied curtly, before taking another glance and realizing who he was talking to, his eyes landing on the magic chalk. "Er….on second thought, maybe you oughtta come, Rudy. But hurry."

He motioned to Rudy and Penny to climb onto Cerberus's back behind them, and as they hurried to do so in spite of their confusion, Rudy caught sight of what was in the moose's arms.

It was Snap's crutch.

"W-what happened?" he cried, frozen in place as he realized that it was indeed the same item he had drawn for his friend. Penny looked horrified as well, and it was suddenly clear that something was horribly, horribly wrong. The two were suddenly in shock, unsure what to make of the situation, but certainly keen to find out.

"Come on," the officer shouted, ignoring his question as he reached his hand down to pull Rudy up. Penny followed, and they sat behind the moose and policeman, having only a second to grip tufts of Cerberus's fur before the three headed dog leapt forward without a command, hurtling down the street faster than Rudy had ever seen him run.

Rudy was nearly thrown onto the pavement as the giant dog lurched forward. One of his hands lost its grip and he was forced to cling to Penny's arm as Cerberus powered down the road, paying no heed to the couple of cars that had to swerve out of his way. Ignoring the officer's shouts to slow down, he continued onward, and the moose, who appeared absolutely petrified, clinging with his free hoof to the police collar on Cerberus's right head, began to shout an order to turn left, and Cerberus obeyed him without question. Rudy realized that the moose must be leading him to some part of the city, and frantic questions raced through his mind about what could have befallen Snap.

However, there was no chance for him to ask anyone while Cerberus was racing through the city at such an alarming rate. As they turned into the side street the moose had pointed out, a stick figure Zoner carrying a bag of groceries appeared right in front of them, whirling around with a petrified look at the monster dog racing toward him and showing no sign of stopping.

"Cerberus!" Rudy called. Knowing how fond the dog was of he and his friends, the boy could only hope his voice would convince the animal to listen. "_Stop!_"

However, Cerberus clearly had no intention of stopping. Instead, he leaped clear over the Zoner, his hind legs nearly catching the stick figure's head before he landed with a thud that nearly jolted the riders off of his back, and continued running. Rudy risked a glance behind to check that the Zoner hadn't been harmed, and saw the stick figure, though unhurt, standing in shock, his groceries dropped on the ground. Rudy turned his head toward the front again, realizing that Cerberus was very likely to hurt someone if he carried on this way.

"You need to _slow down!_" Rudy shouted, but Cerberus seemed to only care about listening to the moose's directions. The moose himself, although clearly terrified at the speed they were going, was obviously determined as well and did not hesitate to give the three-headed animal instructions. Zoners who had heard the commotion were darting out of the dog's way as he continued down the street, entering a place lined with several small shops and entertainment centers, nearly crashing into a few displays as he did so.

The scenery was darting by in a blur to Rudy, who was too focused on not losing his grip to pay it much attention. However, a few things caught his eye – television sets. From what little he saw as they were whisked past them, they all seemed to be behaving in that strange erratic way as the others he had seen earlier. He didn't get a very good look, however, and soon the television screens were forgotten as the moose directed Cerberus into a narrow alleyway. The large dog could barely fit, but he raced on regardless, the brick walls scraping his sides. Rudy and Penny leaned in toward each other to avoid being knocked against them. Their frantic mount turned a corner, and Rudy could see the light of the open street area up ahead, wondering how far they would have to travel in such a manner.

However, at the end of the alley, Cerberus skidded to an abrupt halt. The officer and the moose were nearly flung over his heads as he lowered all three of them, frantically sniffing the ground. Rudy paused, wondering what had stopped him, as there didn't seem to be anything of interest around. The place looked as calm and tranquil as everything else.

"This is it?" the policeman asked breathlessly, and the moose nodded.

"It happened right here, sir," he affirmed.

"_What_ happened?" Penny gasped, her voice sounding a little pained, and Rudy only then realized that he'd been tightly gripping her arm during the entire ride, not having had a chance to grab Cerberus's fur with that hand again. He quickly let go, muttering a quick apology.

"Where that blue boy…Snap…was attacked by those robots," the moose continued. "They brought him into their vehicle, which was right there…" He pointed to the pathway beside the alley. "…And then headed off to the restricted area of the city!"

"Wait! Robots? What- Did anyone else see this?" Rudy cried, noting that although there weren't many cars or Zoners on the street they were currently standing by, someone had to have seen something.

"Yes," the moose responded worriedly, "but it was gone before anyone could follow it. The car was strange…it looked sort of robotic, and it drove right over the debris by the signs." He quickly pointed toward a street that, as Cerberus exited the alley slowly, they could see led to a taped off area with broken up pavement beyond it, something no ordinary car would be able to drive over. The tape blocking off the area had been torn and several warning signs were knocked over. "It drove right into there without stopping!" he called frantically.

Rudy and Penny exchanged looks of sheer alarm. Neither of them had any idea just what had taken Snap, or for what purpose, and the fact that they had so little to go off of filled them with terror. Rudy glanced toward Cerberus, who had resumed sniffing the ground frantically, trying to pick up a trail. His long forked tail lashed frantically as he whined, clearly confused. "Cerberus…" Rudy said slowly, pointing toward the damaged signs, "it went that way." The dog paid no heed, still frantically searching with his noses almost pressed to the ground.

"He must have found a scent here, Rudy," Penny replied, her voice shaking with worry. "He won't know exactly _where_ in the damaged part of the city they'd gone if he can't pick up the scent, but…if they traveled by _car_…I'm not sure if he could find it." She could see that Rudy was momentarily confused before he realized that tracking a car in the midst of a city would likely be impossible to most animals.

To Rudy's horror, Penny's prediction turned out to be correct. Cerberus let out a low whine as he lifted his heads toward the sky before turning and pacing back into the alley, then backing up again and searching the end where it opened out into the street, but it was clear to all watching that Snap's scent had completely vanished from the point the car had left. Cerberus looked completely dejected, utterly confused and helpless; for an animal that tracked by scent, it seemed to appear to him as if Snap had simply vanished into nowhere at that spot.

Rudy felt his blood run cold, because it was evident that without a clear trail of Snap's scent, Cerberus wouldn't be able to follow the car's path amidst the other confusing scents of the damaged section of the city. He didn't think any homing device he could draw would be able to track Snap through a metal car either, and he turned to the police officer, hoping that he'd know what to do.

"If this is all you can show me, you'd better be getting back to your shop," the policeman told the moose, who nodded anxiously and waited for Cerberus to stop his pacing before climbing down from his back.

The clearly worried Zoner looked unsure what to do until something seemed to come to him. "Wait a minute!" he cried, and the officer and the two humans looked in his direction, while Cerberus continued to search aimlessly for a trail. "There's someone who might be able to help…wait right here!"

Rudy had barely opened his mouth to speak before the shopkeeper darted back into the alley, vanishing from their sight. It seemed like he had barely left when they heard noises and a few angry shouts, and the moose returned holding a tiny Zoner in his hooves.

"Put me down!" the Zoner, a small gray mouse, shouted as he shook a tiny fist at the moose. "I said I'd think about-and who's _watching the shop?_ What do you think you-?"

Ignoring the protests, the moose reached the astonished group, taking a moment to catch his breath before explaining, "Lester here can find objects using his whiskers. He can find Zoners as well, if you were to get close enough to the place to-"

"It's not going to be that simple!" the mouse cried, managing to break from the moose's grasp and landing nimbly on the ground. "I can find things in a shop, sure, but this…" He shook his head in a frustrated manner. "Why should I help you anyway? You didn't even wait for my answer before dragging me out of the shop! And if someone robs us, it's gonna be on your-"

"Wait a minute!" Rudy cried, leaping down onto the pavement. "You can find your way to certain things using your whiskers?"

"That…would be a valuable asset," Penny stated nervously, knowing all too well how precious seconds were passing with each moment.

"Yes, but why should I-"

"Someone was _kidnapped!_" the moose cried, a faint anger evident in his voice among the worry. "You have something that could help! Don't you think-"

"Wait…" Rudy said, interrupting them before the mouse could speak. "This…this will be dangerous if we follow the kidnappers," he stated. "Maybe…maybe it's better if you didn't come. But I could…I could draw a homing bacon. Maybe it could work if we're close enough to wherever the car went!"

"Great idea, Rudy," Penny cried in relief, and Rudy gave her a worried smile. As he started to draw, Penny lowered herself down from Cerberus's back as well.

"I'll scout the area ahead," said the policeman, and he gave Cerberus a command. This time, the dog listened, and desperately bolted across the street toward the area leading to the damaged portion of the city.

Rudy finished his drawing, and the homing bacon fluttered to life, quickly zooming off in the direction Cerberus and the police officer had gone. Rudy grinned, as it clearly seemed to know where it was heading, and doodled a pair of rockets on his shoes, doing the same for Penny before they took to the air.

Following the homing bacon, they watched as it fluttered above the damaged portion of the city, headed in a fixed direction. Rudy lowered himself closer to the ground as he scanned the area, determined to help Snap and hoping that they would arrive before any more harm could be done to him.

Then, without warning, the homing bacon stopped. Rudy and Penny stopped as well, coming up beside it as it fluttered in place, near an area broken off from everything else by more tape and warning signs. They had been flying so close to the ground that it took until they were hovering right near the beacon for them to see what it was.

The homing device had led them to an abandoned termite tunnel.

Rudy was startled as he stared at it; he had known there were still some tunnels from Newland's attack that hadn't yet been filled in, but seeing one before his eyes brought shock and confusion to his mind. How could a_ car_ have driven straight into there? He glanced at Penny, who looked just as perplexed and horrified. He then turned his glance to the homing bacon, which looked utterly confused itself as it hovered in place, almost as if there was an invisible barrier keeping it from going any further. However, Rudy and Penny were floating just below it, so they knew that obviously wasn't the case.

Rudy grabbed the device in his hands, lowering it closer to the hole in the hopes that it would be able to pick up the trail. To his shock, it zipped out of his hand the moment he did so, jerking back and forth and flying in an erratic, aimless pattern, obviously no longer homing in on anything. After a moment, it came to a shuddering stop as if its system had overloaded, and dropped lifelessly into the darkness.

They stared in dismay at the blackness of the tunnel, where their most solid hope had just vanished into. After a moment they heard a dull crash as the small machine hit the bottom. "Something must have been interrupting its signal," Penny began after a moment. "I can't imagine what, but…"

"We'd better go find the police officer," Rudy muttered as he lifted higher into the air to get a better look around. Even amidst the damaged buildings, it was easy to spot Cerberus from that height, and Penny waited nervously by the tunnel entrance as he flew up to them. "I've found where the car went!" he shouted, knowing his uncertainty was showing clearly in his voice. "Or…or at least, I think it is. It's a termite tunnel."

The officer gave him an odd look, as if he didn't quite believe him, but Rudy disregarded it and led them quickly back to the site. Luckily, thanks to Cerberus's speed, they arrived very quickly, and the policeman peered into the darkness with a look of utter bewilderment. "What makes you think they went in there?" he asked.

Rudy tried to explain what had happened with the homing bacon, and Penny, who was anxious to hurry and find a way to Snap, just as she knew Rudy was, looked at Cerberus, realizing that the fur along his three necks was bristling as he bared his teeth, snarling at the dark hole in the ground. She was suddenly uneasy about the whole thing, but her urgency to help Snap forced it to the back of her mind.

"If what you say about the homing device is true," the officer began, "then we're going to have to-"

"Wait a minute!" Penny cried, causing Rudy and the policeman to turn her way. "The mouse back near the shops! He might still be able to help us!"

"Yeah, but…" Rudy began, looking to her uncertainly.

"Right," she sighed, understanding what he meant. "It is dangerous." She shook her head. "But a normal homing device isn't going to work! We should at least ask; we're wasting precious time!"

Rudy nodded, understanding completely how limited their options were, and the two of them raced through the air back toward the city, leaving the puzzled officer and Cerberus, who was currently trying to find a way to lower his bulky body into the opening, behind. When they arrived back at the alley where the attack had happened, there was no sign of either of the shopkeepers. Worried they wouldn't be able to find the right shop in time, Rudy and Penny darted through the alleyway the way they'd remembered the moose coming from, stopping when they emerged between two shops.

To Rudy's immense relief, a glance in one of the store windows told him immediately that it belonged to the moose who'd witnessed the attack. Landing, they ran inside, causing both the moose and his rodent coworker to jump in surprise. "We need your help!" Rudy cried. "I know it's dangerous, but you're the only one who might be able to help. I'll…I'll make sure nothing-"

"Wait a minute," Lester interrupted, clearly still vague on the details of what was going on as he approached Rudy, his whiskers twitching. "What exactly _is_ it that you want me to find? The place that little blue cripple was taken to?"

"Yes," Rudy replied, deciding to ignore the insult. "Will you…help us?" He felt bad about the possibility of inevitably leading a Zoner into danger, but he knew that if he did nothing, something horrible could befall Snap, and the mouse's ability was the only thing he could think of that might help them quickly enough. "But I have to warn you," he stated again, "it could be dangerous, and-"

"All right, then," the mouse stated, much to the surprise of Rudy and Penny. "But," he began before either of them could get a word in, "I want you to draw me my own shop in exchange. My own shop," he continued, "and plenty of merchandise to sell right away."

"All right, sure!" Rudy responded at once, and the mouse looked somewhat surprised that the creator had granted his wish so readily, but Rudy hardly paid attention as he held out his hand. "Come on."

The mouse hesitantly stepped onto his palm, and Rudy lifted him up to his shoulder, where he clung there determinedly, glancing at the rockets on Rudy's shoes. Rudy and Penny hurried outside, using the rockets to return as quickly as possible to the place where Cerberus was waiting.

They hadn't been gone long, and when they arrived, they could see Cerberus and the skeptical looking police officer still waiting near the entrance to the termite tunnel. Cerberus was still emitting low growls as he circled around the edge of the hole, seemingly unable to find a way down. Noting his predicament, Rudy took out his stick of magic chalk. "Leave this to me," he announced, allowing Lester to climb from his hand onto Penny's shoulder before flying down into the hole.

He quickly sketched a flashlight so he could see where he was going and pointed it downward, noting that the floor of the tunnel seemed around thirty feet down. As he did so, he noticed a tiny device on the rock wall a few feet below him, and he didn't dare shine his light on it directly to get a better look as he realized it was probably some sort of camera or sensor. Lowering himself slowly toward it, he realized it was only about the size of his thumb. Prying a stone loose from the wall, he hesitated a moment before he brought himself closer until he was just above it, then slammed the rock into the device, which crumpled beneath it. Pointing the flashlight up and down the walls, he could see no others, and he gradually made his way down to the bottom. He checked for any other potential threats, but saw nothing, and figured that the kidnappers had only put the devices near the entrances to the tunnels.

As quickly as the rockets would allow him, he sketched a hurriedly drawn ramp from the floor to the opening, which Cerberus leaped onto without hesitation despite the steepness of the slope. The structure shuddered, and Rudy was afraid his drawing had turned out weak due to his hastiness, but although it creaked loudly, it held firm, and soon Cerberus was down on all fours at the bottom, the police officer still riding on his back. Penny joined them a moment later, and the policeman turned on his own flashlight while Rudy quickly drew another one for Penny.

As Cerberus bent down to try to catch any sort of scent, Rudy and the others allowed their eyes to adjust to the gloom. The place they were standing in was an absolute mess; debris was strewn here and there, and walls consisting of mud, earth, rock, and in some places, chunks of buildings that had fallen from the surface. The whole area smelled faintly of sewerage. There were tunnels branching off from the one they were standing in, both in front and behind them and looking as if they led all over the place; it was one gigantic maze.

Rudy turned to the mouse holding onto Penny's shoulder, who looked suddenly doubtful about his decision to come along. "So can you tell where Snap is?" he asked, not raising his voice in case the Zoners who'd driven the car were nearby. However, his words still created a faint echo.

Confused, the mouse shook his head. "It'd be next to impossible to find anything from here," he grumbled, and even his small voice seemed to reverberate off the grimy walls. He gave a deep sigh before continuing, "I can't tell where your friend is unless we get closer to wherever he is."

"Well, let's get closer then," Rudy muttered, taking a few steps forward into the gloom. Cerberus began to walk forward as well, but this time he moved slowly, all three heads alert as he peered in multiple directions at once.

As they moved through the passage, Penny noticed obvious tire tracks in the places where wet muck had pooled on the ground. She slowed so that she was walking behind the others, keeping a close eye on the tracks and noting with a faint bit of fascination that she could see some on the walls as well. Whoever had designed the vehicle they were following had clearly made it possible for the machine to climb walls, which explained how it entered the termite tunnel. She glanced to Rudy, desperately wanting to hurry but at the same time afraid of missing something that could give them a vital clue to where Snap could be. Unfortunately, the way ahead was rocky, and there were few places where tracks showed up, and many tunnels the car could have vanished into. From the look of what little signs they could see, there seemed to be tire marks leading into multiple tunnels, and they all seemed fairly recent. Penny bit her lip with worry; it was impossible to tell which tracks were the freshest.

"Hurry it up!" the mouse on her shoulder snapped. "I'm not going to be able to find anything unless we manage to get closer to that vehicle."

"Sorry, Mr…Lester," she muttered, jogging to catch up with the others.

Penny looked up as she heard Rudy whisper something quietly to the police officer, and she increased her pace until she was standing by his side. He'd come upon a set of tracks that veered off into a tunnel to their left, stretching across a patch of thick mud. "This might be it," he whispered, and Cerberus's three heads pointed toward the tunnel, clearly ready to run after the perpetrators. Not wanting him to leave the rest of them behind or run into danger, Rudy held out his hand, whispering, "Wait! We-"

He broke off as something small whistled through the air toward Cerberus, who only had a chance to jerk his heads back in surprise before the object lodged itself in the neck of his middle head. The three headed dog stiffened in surprise before he dropped to the ground in a heap, the policeman shouting as he tumbled to the earth as well. In the same instant, Rudy heard another similar sound coming from that tunnel, and he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He stared down at it, realizing that he'd been struck by some sort of small dart. As he yanked it out, he saw Penny jump as another one thudded into the ground next to her shoe. Lester gave a squeak of fright, hiding behind her back with only his paws and the tips of his ears showing above her shoulder.

Movement in the tunnel caught Rudy's eye, and he watched the police officer dart toward it, vanishing into the dark. Rudy was about to call out to him when he saw a small flash of light and a vaguely robotic-sounding shriek. A moment later, the Zoner returned, dragging with him a robot that looked to be unconscious and holding a taser in his other hand. "Didn't mean to shock him that bad," the officer muttered regretfully. "He could have told us something. At least there didn't seem to be any others…" He glanced to the robot's hands, indicating that it was holding a mechanical device that was clearly the source of the darts.

Looking down at the robot, Penny wished that the shopkeeper was there to tell them if this robot was one of the ones who'd kidnapped Snap, or if he was an unknown accomplice, but there was no way to tell at the moment. She glanced to Rudy, who was staring at the small tranquilizer dart in his hand. She then cast her gaze to Cerberus, who looked as if he was deeply asleep, his three heads resting soundly. The fact that the dart had acted so quickly unnerved her, and she was only glad that it hadn't affected Rudy. She realized that, even if the tranquilizer could have any effect at all on him, it would have dissolved upon entering a part of his body.

They backed up, waiting in silence as the policeman readied himself for another attack, but no other Zoner appeared. Penny was unsure if she should dare hope that it had merely been a lone accomplice who'd happened to wander there, and not the first of a group, but as the seconds passed, it did seem as if the robot had been alone, and she and Rudy both knew they likely couldn't afford to hesitate any longer.

Worriedly, the two of them glanced toward Cerberus. "How long do you think it'll take to wear off?" Rudy asked.

"No way to tell," the officer muttered, leaning down toward the motionless beast. He picked up the dart, inspecting it. "Not sure why they wouldn't have tried to use this on Snap, unless this robot wasn't with the others." He looked clearly concerned, glancing toward the two children, who realized that he certainly hadn't expected to be tracking down the kidnappers with so little backup. "I don't think we can go much farther until-"

"I'm _not_ going back," Rudy protested, his eyes narrowed as he stared at the policeman. "My friend is somewhere down here and I'm not leaving until I find him!"

The policeman looked as if he wanted to argue, then seemed to reconsider. "Well, I know you two can take care of yourselves," he admitted, eyeing Rudy's chalk. "But I'm still going to go for backup."

"Good idea," Penny told him. "We…might need help."

Rudy turned to Lester, who was still perched on Penny's shoulder. "This might be harder than I thought," he began, his voice shaking. "If you want to go back, you-"

"I still want that shop, you know," the rodent protested. "I'll help you, but you'd better be careful. Though if that's the worst this place has to offer…" He glanced at the fallen robot. "…I don't see why you're so worried."

"My _friend_ was-"

"All right, I get it!" Lester sighed. "But you're going to need a way to sneak around here without being seen." He pointed to the flashlight Penny was holding in her hand, and then at Rudy's. "Anyone could see those lights from any of these tunnels!"

"You're right," Rudy muttered, but instead of turning his off, he used its light to draw a pair of night vision goggles, knowing that at least they wouldn't be seen from a distance that way. He tested them, dismayed to see that they didn't work as well as he'd imagined they would, but it was still a definite improvement over the darkness. He drew a pair for Penny and then the police officer, and after Lester protested, one for him as well.

After that, Rudy turned to Cerberus and drew a temporary, but strong, barrier around him, knowing that he couldn't be moved in that state and not wanting to risk him being hit by the vehicle if it tried to leave again. As it formed, it blended with its surroundings, concealing it from view rather well in the darkness. He had also designed it so that, if Cerberus awakened before the rest of the police force arrived, he would be able to open it from the inside and free himself.

As Rudy completed the drawing, the policeman hurried back toward the ramp Rudy had drawn, and though Penny watched him anxiously, no harm befell him. She turned to Rudy as soon as he'd finished the barrier and they hurried into the tunnel on foot, knowing that the light from their rocket shoes could attract attention as easily as the flashlights.

Dashing off through the tunnels, Rudy caught glimpses of several other tunnels as he passed, realizing that they certainly _had_ formed a giant maze. They crisscrossed over each other frequently, but led in all different directions. He spotted several that led deeper into the ground or up closer to the surface.

"Can you sense anything?" he asked, turning to Penny and Lester, who still seemed fairly calm, despite the circumstances.

"No," the mouse began, "but I don't think there are any more robots."

"How do you know?" Penny asked, looking perplexed. "You didn't notice that one that attacked us, did you?"

Lester's ears straightened as he shot Penny an offended look. "Well, I'm not _perfect_! How was I supposed to find something I didn't even know was there? I wasn't actually _searching_ for some crazy robot trying to attack us, I was looking for your friend or a _car_."

Penny glanced to Rudy uncertainly, feeling that their ability to find Snap quickly enough was slipping from their grasp. They were running blindly through a maze, and Penny had no idea what sort of harm had befallen their friend already.

"We're wasting too much time here," Rudy muttered, clearly thinking the same. "Come on, let's try this way." He ran into a large side tunnel that showed faint tracks on the ground, but there had been so many car tracks that he still wasn't sure if they were going the right way; with no wind down underneath the city to disturb them, the tracks could be days old. He tried not to think about that. They hurried through the tunnel, desperately hoping that Lester's abilities would pick up something soon.


	7. Escapade Beneath the City

**Cryptic Infiltration**

**Chapter Seven – Escapade Beneath the City**

The first thing Snap became aware of was an odd mechanical sound, like the low hum of several different machines. This meant nothing to him in his current state, for he was far too disoriented to think clearly at all. Soon, however, the noise grew in intensity, and as his senses gradually returned to him, the sound of indistinct voices could be heard, though he could not quite tell _where_ they were coming from or how close to him they were, nor could he make out what they were saying. When he opened his eyes, he only saw smudges of objects he did not recognize.

Before he could begin to try to make sense of any of this, he became aware of a sharp, jagged pain in both his head and arm, and as his dazed mind tried to connect this to something, he suddenly realized that both of his arms were down at his sides, resting on the arms of some sort of chair. As he tried to make sense of that discovery, his vision became clearer, and he could make out odd lights in the middle of the gloomy darkness of his current location. He then became aware that it was somewhat cold, and that the chair he was sitting in was anything but comfortable. Another stab of pain through his head prompted him to try to lift his hand up toward it, but he realized with a sudden jolt of fear that left him more awake than before that his hands were shackled to the chair and completely immobilized.

Panic shot through him like a lightning bolt and he instinctively tried to pull away, but all that jerked was his shoulder, and he was only rewarded with intensified pain in his injured arm. He tried again, only to realize with a spark of horror that both arms were immobilized by metal shackles that held them down. The haze invading his mind continued to fade away, but as it did so, the pain from his injuries only worsened. He tried to think of how he could have ended up where he currently was, and _why_, and what exactly had happened beforehand. He couldn't at all recall what he had been doing prior to waking up in this strange dark room. As he tried to turn his head to get a better look at his surroundings, which were gradually becoming clear, he wondered where Rudy and Penny were. However, he wasn't sure if they had even been with him during whatever had occurred before he had fallen unconscious.

His mind began to race as he again struggled to free himself from the chair he was currently strapped to, quickly realizing that his legs had been locked in shackles as well, which only intensified his panic. The shackles, however, refused to budge. Soon realization struck him, and he found it only too clear that his efforts would not bring him any closer to freedom. He stopped his struggles, realizing that all he was doing was increasing his agony by trying to pull his injured limbs free. Only after he'd ceased his attempts did he realize that his panic had likely attracted some sort of attention from whoever had brought him there, and a vague memory of hearing voices somewhere in the background of the room came to the forefront of his mind.

He forced himself to hold still, straining to listen in spite of his terror. He could make out the noise of the speakers, who seemed to be somewhere behind him, but still could not hear their words. If they'd heard his panicked attempts to escape, they did not seem to care enough to pay any attention to him. His mind raced with fear as he pondered what the strange Zoners had in store for him. He still had no idea what could have happened for him to end up in such a position, or for what purpose he had been brought there. _What was going on?_

It was then that he noticed that there were brighter lights somewhere behind him, yet most of the room remained dark. As he pondered this, he began to realize that the room didn't exactly look like a room at all. There was a wall to his left, but as he turned his head in that direction, hoping to see some sort of doorway or escape route, he realized that there was something odd about it. It wasn't a wall belonging to a building; instead it looked as if it were made from mud and rock. It sloped outwards a bit, and he could see a few jagged rocks jutting from its uneven surface. He stared at it for a moment, and the fact that he was still unable to process things quickly in his current state caused him to take a few seconds longer before he realized that he certainly wasn't in a building, as he had first assumed, but in some sort of tunnel.

The sounds of the voices behind him caught his attention again, and this time he began to make out what they were saying, as his head had cleared a bit more. He tried to look toward them as he listened, but he couldn't move enough to look around the chair. One of the voices, which sounded somewhat robotic, was asking a question, but this voice was so low that Snap could only make out a few of the words, none of which meant anything to him.

"We've almost got it ready," the voice was saying. "We've interrupted the television signals."

"What is Shift waiting for?" another one of the voices mumbled, and through his haze of pain and confusion, Snap recognized the name the Zoner had mentioned. _Shift… _That was the name of the villain who had threatened ChalkZone City and demanded supplies. He found it a bit startling that it had taken him a moment to process that, and he shook his head, fighting to clear it of the haze that surrounded him. All it seemed to do was make his heart race with panic as he once again acknowledged that he was trapped without hope of escape, and for what purpose, he could only guess.

"They haven't got it right yet," the first voice, which sounded more mechanical than the second, responded with a hint of annoyance. "We need to be sure every television set in the city…"

Their voices faded and Snap couldn't hear what was said next. From what he could gather, it sounded like Shift was going to make another announcement to the city. But then, what was _he _there for? Was Shift trying to lure in Rudy? The thought seemed likely, and Snap felt a new wave of terror, not knowing what they intended to do to him to get Rudy to arrive. His one small beacon of hope was the fact that none of Shift's workers, as he assumed the Zoners behind him were, seemed to be paying him the smallest bit of attention. Now that he could think more clearly, he ignored the pain pulsing through his body and tried to examine the chair he'd been shackled to.

He found to his immediate dismay that the chair was far too heavy for him to move at all, and was constructed of what looked like hastily welded together metal. He tried to lean forward, but the chair wouldn't budge, and he only succeeded in painfully straining his injured leg against the restraint holding it in place.

"Shouldn't it be set up by now?" one of the Zoners' voices behind him stated, prompting Snap to try to glance around at them again. However, like before, he could not.

"They've been trying. They ran into some problems, but Shift thinks it's fine. This is an ideal time. Lots of Zoners watch television around this hour."

Snap felt an even stronger sense of dread as he realized that his previous theory did not add up. If he had been right, they would be waiting for _Rudy_ to arrive, not for…_something_…to be set up. He began to wonder if he was being used as blackmail for the rest of ChalkZone City, and as he focused his attention straight ahead of him, something he had been too distracted to do earlier, he noticed small lights and objects which, now that his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized were _cameras_. He was obviously meant to be part of Shift's next announcement, but he had no idea what they intended to do with him, a thought that was nothing short of terrifying. He also had the feeling, in spite of not being able to remember much of anything, that his friends had not been with him during whatever incident that had led to his capture. He understood that it was likely that _no one_ knew where he was.

"I think it's nearly ready," another one of the Zoners said, directing Snap's attention once again to the speakers somewhere behind him. While he strained to catch any sort of information, he tried to see if he could figure out where exactly he was, but from the look of things it was just a widened part of a tunnel. Due to the darkness beyond the lights, he couldn't even tell if there was a wall somewhere ahead of him or if the tunnel just kept going.

"Good. And we have the subject ready. Someone should find Shift."

'_Subject?'_ thought Snap. _'Does he mean me?'_

"Do we need to tell him anything? Make sure he acts a certain way?" Snap heard one of the creatures mutter, and once more, he desperately tried to move himself so he could find some way to see them, but it was only reiterated to him for the umpteenth time that he was stuck where he sat. If he could only see them, perhaps he could try communicating with them. The identities of his captors were an enigma, even if he knew they were working with Shift.

"I doubt it," the other scoffed. "Shift hasn't told us anything so why should we bother?" His remark was closer to a statement than a question; it was clear he cared little for his prisoner, which, even if the information was already clear to him, only unsettled Snap more.

"It won't matter either way," the first muttered. "He can probably hear us."

"Oh yes, he's awake, all right," another muttered casually. "But like you said, it sure won't matter in the end."

Shivers bounced down Snap's spine as he heard the words, his eyes wide as he stared directly ahead into the pitch blackness. Although he was eager to hear what they were saying about him, he simultaneously wished he could block out anything they were discussing; he knew he was not going to like what they had to say.

"You're right," the other grunted, no trace of interest in his voice. "And he's not what's important in the end. It's the rest of ChalkZone City we're trying to send a message to."

For a moment, Snap felt a little relieved. Although he was unsure what he meant by the comment, it was a little comforting to know that he was not going to be the focus for the whole time. He considered that they planned to make him broadcast some distress signal to the city by using the TV monitors they had been discussing, and keep him locked up while they waited for a response. After all, he was well known in ChalkZone, so it made sense that they would keep him there to try to convince the city Zoners to give in. He certainly did not like the idea of them using him to get to the citizens, or to Rudy. Suddenly he felt terrified for his friend and his jaws clenched tightly together, the pressure feeling as if it spread to his mind like an infection and stirred terrible, taunting thoughts in his head.

"Right. Well, anyway..." The voice paused for a second, and it was then that Snap suddenly realized that he didn't like the idea of hearing silence instead of hearing their plan. He swallowed, a hard lump following down his neck. "Heh, how long do you think he'll last through the broadcast?"

At this, Snap was sure he would be something close to offended if he was not so terrified. The distraction of his continuous pain, and the frantic thoughts in his mind were preventing such a reaction. He could feel places aching which had not previously bothered him, and was sure it was due to pure stress. His breath was jagged and his whole body had been shaking since he had first heard the Zoners begin to talk. Additionally, his head was still clouded with the confusion of what had happened to him prior, as everything was still a muddled, jumbled blur.

The other Zoner seemed amused. "I don't know. Maybe most of it. If he doesn't pass out at the sight of his own blood first."

"_What?!"_ Snap blurted, finding that all breath escaped him. He felt as if he had been suddenly winded, his gaze frozen as he focused on a spot on the floor. He now knew that they definitely planned to hurt him, and if they were laughing about something like passing out at the sight of blood, then...they weren't talking about a small amount.

"…That's why Shift went for him. An easy target..." they continued, and Snap realized that he'd missed their earlier words. Snap continued to stare, feeling his breathing shakily draw in and out before it hitched.

"If that little Tabootie kid sees this," the other mused, "perhaps we could end up getting more out of this than we first realized. Shift could make it clear that he could do away with more of Rudy's friends if he doesn't cooperate. That's his style. Quick. Efficient."

Snap's heart beat faster with every word that entered his ear, every harsh syllable that jabbed his gut with fear and apprehension. He felt like he was filling up with toxins, ready to vomit, ready to collapse from the heat that was beginning to burn onto his face and make him sweat in places he could not reach without causing himself harm. Every fiber of his being was shuddering with fear, confusion and added agony from the pain he felt. The constraints around his wrists and legs were too tight. Even so, he couldn't even consider the thought of the chafing as his mind replayed the words in his head time and again, cutting into his mind and feeding it a never-ending dose of distress.

He _had _to escape. He began to struggle again, tugging at his wrists despite the tightness already. His legs were pinned in place and he could hardly move his head. Additionally, each time he tried to pull away, a stab of pain would race through him from one of his injuries. He grumbled and moaned through gritted teeth each time it happened, and the more he did it, the more he was starting to realize that it _was_ impossible to break free. He was too frightened to stop in case he gave himself the impression that he was simply giving up, but managed to convince himself that he was merely taking a break to regain some energy and try to find some sort of strategy to his pulling and tugging—even though he secretly knew that his mind felt much too clouded for him to properly devise any sort of plan.

"When's he getting here?" the voice asked, clearly referring to Shift, "it's been a while already... I thought he wanted this done quickly."

"Just be…patient," a new voice stated, at first sounding irritated, but judging by the way his sentence trailed off, Snap could tell something was different. Not right.

The distant sound of slow scraping began to ring in his ear, causing him to widen his eyes further and lift his gaze. Something alarming was racing through his body more rapidly than before, telling him that something was terribly, horribly wrong. As the sound grew louder, his disturbingly horrified feeling only swelled, growing stronger, louder and larger inside of him.

He turned his gaze to his left the best he could, realizing that the oppressing sound was coming from that direction. Something large was moving through the gloom, and it took him a moment to realize that the thing was coming from up_ above_ as well as to his left, as if it was descending a wall. Silence seemed to come over the Zoners that were talking behind him, but something told Snap that although they had seemed to quiet out of some sort of respect rather than fear, whatever was coming was had a dark and threatening presence.

He froze, not daring to move despite knowing in the back of his mind that it would make no difference if he tried. Then, he could make out the indistinct shape of some strange creature in the darkness descending to the floor somewhere close to where he was. His eyes widened as he realized that the mysterious Zoner was quite larger than he was, although from what he could see, not much taller. However, he soon realized that this was only because its legs, which he noticed with a horrifying realization that seemed to be very numerous, were low to the ground; the creature itself was far longer than it was tall, and if it were standing upright, Snap knew that it would have towered over him. The dim lights in the room seemed to reflect back at him across the surface of the creature's body, leading Snap to realize that it was made of some sort of metal. As it moved toward him with a faint eerie hissing sound and entered the area in front of Snap's chair, where the lighting was a bit stronger, Snap then realized that the being was some sort of giant, metallic centipede.

The creature had narrow, triangular eyes that glowed with a faint yellow light. The surface of its body was a dark blue with a black coating covering its back. Two large pincers flanked either side of its mouth, and it looked to have at least two dozen legs, each of them sporting sharp points near the joints as well as wicked looking claws. The edges of the legs looked sharp as well, like blades. Snap had a good idea of what this robotic Zoner wanted with him, and he felt his muscles lock up in terror, his body frozen in shock as his eyes took in the terrifying beast before him. He scarcely dared to breathe, fearing that if he attempted to move the creature would kill him on the spot.

As Snap watched, the front half of the centipede's long body lifted into the air so that it was standing upright, or as close to it as such a creature could manage. Now that its head and upper body were up against the backdrop of the dim lights from the cameras in the background, Snap could easily make out the individual claws on each of pairs of legs, some of them splayed out and others still locked together to form a sharp point.

"Master Shift?" one of the Zoners behind Snap stated with a tone of respect. Snap stared at the metallic centipede in disbelief. _That_ was Shift?

"Everything's almost ready," a second worker input, but Snap was too petrified at the sight before him to try to concentrate on what the other Zoners in the room were saying. Shift's attention was focused on the speaker, but after a moment he turned his head toward one of the camera devices emitting light.

"Good," Shift replied, and his voice sounded strangely grating and metallic. Snap had heard many different types of robot Zoners speak before, and they all had varying ranges of normal or robotic sounding voices, but this voice sounded strange even considering that. It was completely unnatural, almost as if Shift hadn't been designed to speak when he'd been drawn, and the means of doing so had only been added to his system later. The voice was low-pitched and distorted, sounding almost like a radio with a bad signal. It only made the creature more terrifying, and Snap's mind raced with panic again as he considered that whatever harm would come to him would likely be at the claws of that monster.

Then, to Snap's complete horror, Shift's head turned toward him, the yellow light from the centipede's eyes intensifying as it rested on his immobile form. The metal beast lowered his head and approached, his legs clicking against the ground as he moved toward Snap's chair. Snap had no idea whether Shift intended to attack him right then and there; there was no way to read any sort of emotion in the creature's eyes, and the way his metal body moved was so unnatural that Snap couldn't guess whether his intentions were currently hostile or not that way either.

Snap was helpless to move as one of Shift's razor sharp metal legs shot out and gripped the top of his chair, wrenching it forward so that the back legs lifted off the ground and Snap and the centipede were face to face. He released a shrill cry of shock as he jerked forward, his eyes wide and his breath suddenly catching in his throat. Sudden thoughts whizzed through his mind of all natures, but nothing was clear. He felt only a blur of solid fear as the creature held him still, his face much too close for comfort. For a moment, Snap thought he might pass out from sheer terror.

For a moment the monster only stared at him, though to Snap it felt like several minutes. Then Shift released the chair, letting it fall back with a clang that sent Snap's head knocking against the back of it. "Good. You got the right one," Shift said, his voice flickering like an interrupted signal as he spoke, the last two words repeating like some sort of distorted echo. There was still no emotion in his voice, though Snap was vaguely aware that he must have spoken with the intent of approval, having been glad that his followers had captured the real Snap and not some random Snip wandering the city.

Shift then turned away from him and focused his attention to the cameras. In that instant, Snap silently shouted at himself to do something. Escape seemed impossible, but he knew he had to try. He seized the chance as Shift was distracted and tried to force his arms out, only to find that his injured one forced him to stop as it screeched in pain. He tried to simply put it aside, rocking his body from side to side and trying desperately to break free. The binds holding him down were practically unbreakable, and no matter how violently he shook, and how much strength he applied to his attempt to break free, nothing changed. The realization caused a seed of panic to sink further into his mind, his stomach stirring faster with sickening feelings of dread.

Suddenly, Snap heard the sound of someone else approaching, and an irritated voice cried out, "Shift? We think something has infiltrated one of the tunnels."

At this, Shift turned his head toward the voice, and indistinct murmuring broke out among the other Zoners gathered there. Then the centipede spoke.

"Find it then."

**ooo**

Rudy pelted through the tunnel, Penny right at his side. They hadn't encountered any other enemies, but they hadn't encountered any signs of the car, other than a few small fragments of tracks, either. Rudy was scanning the darkness as well as he could through the night vision goggles, heading into a side tunnel marked by tire tracks. He hadn't gone far before Penny's voice brought him to a halt.

"Wait, Rudy!" she hissed as loudly as she dared, grabbing his arm to slow him down. "What do you think you're doing? We don't know if that's the right-"

Rudy shook his head firmly, keen to keep moving and annoyed that Penny had stopped him. "Penny, we were wasting time! Snap could be-"

"I know, but we're not getting anywhere following these marks! We need to find another way."

"But we don't even know where Snap is and it could take…" Rudy trailed off, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "Maybe I could try to draw a homing device down _here_," he stated, looking to Penny with a bit of newfound hope in his eyes. Lester, resting on Penny's shoulder, gave him an uncertain look, as if he didn't expect that something Rudy could draw would be of much use if he himself couldn't pinpoint Snap's location.

"Rudy, I'm not sure," Penny whispered, and before he could protest, she added, "It could attract unwanted attention."

"We'll have to risk it," Rudy stated, and Penny watched as he completed the homing bacon drawing, having a bit more trouble than usual due to the inadequate vision the goggles offered him. However, when the drawing formed, they could tell right away that the device was not functioning normally, and Rudy could only watch as it jittered erratically in no particular direction before crashing to the ground and falling still. However, its red light was still flickering, so Rudy hurriedly smashed it with his foot, making sure the light it wouldn't be seen from the tunnels. He looked at the tunnel he'd been trying to enter again, ignoring Penny's quiet protests as he darted into it. He could hear her footsteps behind him, but kept going until he felt her grab his arm. "Penny, what do we-"

Suddenly Lester stiffened, his fur standing on end as he peered into the darkness of the new tunnel. Penny immediately noticed, glancing toward her shoulder where the tiny Zoner was perched. Rudy followed her gaze, and Penny inquired, "What is it? Do you think you've picked up on something?"

"I think so," the Zoner replied, and Rudy and Penny looked to him with immense hope. "I think we're finally close enough to…"

"Is something wrong?" Rudy asked, feeling more worry flood through his system.

The rodent didn't move, instead standing upright from his previous crouching position and balancing on Penny's shoulder as he turned his head slowly around, his whiskers flicking in different directions. His small eyes widened, and he immediately dropped back down, clinging to Penny's shoulder with his forepaws as he attempted to hide himself behind her back.

"What's wrong?" Rudy asked again as he quickly ducked behind a mound of earth, Penny, at his side. He was sure he already knew, but he wanted the mouse to confirm it before he did anything.

"There's something down here," the small Zoner whispered, seeming a bit relieved that they had moved into a small space between the dirt mound and the wall, out of sight of anyone who could be coming from any of the tunnels. "I'm not sure what, but…it's not your friend, that's for sure."

"Is it more of the robots?" Rudy whispered, feeling worried for their sake, but far more worried about Snap and what could be happening to him at that moment. He suddenly felt as if hiding was a cowardly and foolish thing to do when they had no idea what sort of danger Snap could be facing, but common sense told him to stay put until he had a plan.

"Maybe," Lester whispered in a fearful voice, "I was trying to pinpoint the location of a car, but this…" He shook his head. "We should get out of here…"

"Not without Snap!" Rudy insisted, angry that he would suggest that before he realized that Lester was just an ordinary Zoner in a dangerous situation. He once again felt bad about asking him to come with them. However, he knew it was too late for him to leave, as it wouldn't be any safer to head back than to go forward, even if they had wanted to retreat.

"Rudy," Penny whispered, "if there are…a lot of them here…more than just the ones in the car, we're going to need to create some sort of distraction so Lester can lead us to where Snap is. We'll certainly run into trouble if we go further now."

As much as Rudy wanted to charge through the tunnel that instant, since he knew that a large group of Zoners would quite possibly be in the same place Snap was, he also knew that Penny was right. "Well, what sort of distraction?" he hissed in frustration, hating the fact that they had to waste valuable time just trying to come up with a plan.

"Maybe…" Penny began, edging away from the rock to peer deeper into the tunnel. It opened up to be much wider further on, and had a large network of side tunnels branching from it. She examined the bigger area up ahead, squinting her eyes as she tried to take in as much as she could through the goggles. "Maybe we could cause a collapse in one of the tunnels," she whispered. "I can't see any Zoners around here, and there won't be any on the surface in the damaged part of the city. The Zoners in these tunnels would then arrive to investigate what happened, and we could slip by unnoticed!"

"Okay, so how should we do it?"

Penny turned from Rudy and peered further into the tunnel again, moving further from her hiding place in order to get a better look. Her hope lifted as she noticed one that seemed to have been widened manually after the termites had dug it, and had a wide support pillar of dirt and rock in the center of its opening. She knew that would make it easier for their enemies to assume the pillar had merely collapsed; it was a less suspicious occurrence than an otherwise stable tunnel collapsing by itself. It looked to be an often used tunnel, and she figured that that was the reason it had been widened. That way, it would be of even more concern to the Zoners dwelling there. She silently pointed it out to her two comrades, and quickly confirmed with Lester that the tunnel was not lying in the direction of the group of Zoners whose location he had pinpointed.

Rudy could still not see any other Zoners, though he knew that some could appear with little or no warning. Cautiously he moved from his hiding place and snuck along the rock wall to the entrance to the tunnel. He glanced to Penny, briefly motioning to her to stay where she was before moving on. Realizing that if they both entered the wide tunnel there would be a higher chance of drawing attention, she nodded and quietly crept back to their hiding spot.

Rudy reached the entrance to the large tunnel without incident, and as he did so, the sheer size of it reminded him of just how big Newland's termites had been. Even though he knew that this particular tunnel had been made bigger, the thought of the creatures who had original dug it made him shiver, and he began to seriously consider that a new type of danger could easily be lurking within its depths at that moment. His instincts were screaming at him to leave and head back, but his will to find Snap and help him was much stronger.

As he carefully slipped into the tunnel entrance and headed toward the pillar, a flicker of movement from somewhere in the tunnel he'd come from, where Penny was currently waiting, caught his eye, and his head jerked toward it. He could see something moving through the gloom on the other side of the tunnel from where he knew Penny was. He froze, not daring to move in case he was spotted, and watched with dread as several lights on the upper walls of the main tunnel flickered on. Although they were somewhat faint, and didn't do much to alleviate the darkness, he knew he could be seen if he tried to move toward either a new hiding place or the pillar.

Whoever the Zoner moving about in the dark was, it hadn't seemed to have noticed him, or Penny, but from what he could tell it seemed agitated. It was quickly joined by another, and suddenly new, brighter lights held by the Zoners themselves flickered on, revealing the two to be a robot and some sort of insect about Rudy's size.

As soon as the brighter light filled the underground space, Rudy ducked against the wall behind a rocky outcrop, seeing the beam of their light sweep over the entrance to his tunnel a moment later. He held his breath as he waited, not entirely sure he hadn't been spotted, until the sound of fading footsteps led him to dare to peek around the rock he was hiding behind. When he saw that the Zoners had gone from view, somewhere further down the main tunnel, he quietly crept toward the pillar in the center of his side tunnel's entranceway.

Rudy had decided that the best and fastest option for making the pillar collapse would be to draw a large hole in its center. He knew, as he approached the structure, that he would have to flee the moment he was finished drawing it, lest it come crashing down on him, and he was glad he was still wearing the rocket shoes he drawn earlier. Checking again to make sure there were no signs of movement from the cavern behind him, Rudy ignited the rockets, lifting into the air and drawing, as quickly as he could manage, a massive hole in the center of the pillar, before darting back into the main tunnel and in the direction of his earlier hiding place.

He expected to hear crashing behind him, and had been ready to shield the back of his head with hands as he flew to safety, but he didn't hear a thing as he crossed the distance between the tunnel entrance and the place where Penny and Lester were currently waiting. Confusion entered his mind, but only when he'd reached the others and was hidden from sight did he dare to look back.

Extinguishing the rocket shoes, he peered around the edge of the rocky outcrop, seeing the tunnel he'd infiltrated lying quiet and undisturbed. The pillar, which he could see from his position, was still standing. He exchanged a worried glance with Penny, and started to head back toward the pillar, before the sound of some sort of vehicle approaching sent him diving back into the shelter of the outcrop.

Rudy bit his lip as he watched from his hiding spot, seeing the odd-looking car swerve out of one of the further tunnels and, instead of heading into another side one, continued on down the main passage, where Rudy knew they would easily see he and his friends if any of them made a move to leave their sheltered area. He took in the appearance of the vehicle, noting its strange, vaguely futuristic look, and wondered if it was the same one that had taken Snap. If it was, he knew that Snap was no longer inside it, because Lester had no reaction to the car's presence. He watched as the lights from the machine flickered over the walls near them, but its occupants did not give any indication that they'd seen the intruders. The Zoners were conversing with one another, but Rudy couldn't make out any of their words. As the car passed, Rudy was debating whether it would be a good idea to make a break for the pillar before they were out of sight or whether it would be too risky, but the decision was quickly made for him as a few more cars appeared from other tunnels. Rudy and the others were helpless to do anything but watch, and as they did so, they realized that the drivers of these newly approaching vehicles seemed much more agitated about something.

"Which sensor was it?" one was shouting to the occupants of another car, and Rudy noticed Penny tense beside him, and as he did so, he realized they had to be talking about some sort of device that detected intruders. Rudy had disabled what he was sure was one such sensor when they'd first entered the tunnels, but he knew they hadn't been able to search carefully for any others while wandering in near-darkness. He suddenly realized how lucky they had been to have not been found earlier, and that it had only been a matter of time before that luck ran out. "Which one triggered the-"

The Zoner's next words were drowned out by a deafening crash that made Rudy jump in surprise, slapping his hands over his ears. His attention was drawn immediately toward the tunnel with the pillar he'd altered. The pillar, though it had stood still at first, had broken and crumbled, and the tunnel's ceiling was now cascading to the ground in pieces, showering the earth beneath it and other nearby tunnels with rocks and debris. Rudy ducked his head as a few small chunks of stone and a cloud of dust flew their way, glad that the rock keeping them hidden deflected most of it.

After the rumbling stopped and the air had settled, Rudy opened his eyes, blinking in surprise as he found that, thanks to the ceiling's partial collapse, light was now streaming into the tunnels. Though much of the underground realm was still shrouded in dark gloom, he could make out everything far easier than he'd been able to with only the goggles and the dim lighting from the lamps set into the walls.

Though the added light made it far easier to see, even if the further reaches of the tunnels were still in darkness, Rudy knew that their enemies had the same new advantage; it would be a lot more difficult for he and the others to hide. He glanced to Penny worriedly, only to see that she wasn't paying attention to him. Instead, her gaze was focused on the Zoners riding the vehicles, who had all turned to look at the site of the collapse. One of them drove his car toward it as a few new vehicles appeared from the other tunnels. These newcomers waited in silence until one Zoner, apparently of some sort of higher rank, instructed a group of others to further search the tunnels, while the rest investigated the collapsed area.

Penny felt a tug on her shirt, and glanced to Lester, who was quietly pointing in the direction of another large tunnel, though not nearly so large as the one whose entrance they had collapsed. "There," he whispered. In his shock, it took a moment for Rudy to fully realize that the space between them and the tunnel Lester was pointing to was more or less clear, the searching Zoners having gone further down the main tunnel and the others distracted by the newly blocked tunnel.

"Come on!" Penny whispered, gripping Rudy's hand and yanking him upright from his crouching position. Quietly, she led him around the rocks and made a hurried dash, using the quickest route to the other side of the tunnel and the side passage that Lester had pointed out. "You're sure this is the way?" she whispered once they had found another lump of rock to hide behind in order to catch their breath. They were relieved that no one seemed to have noticed them move across the tunnel, but they knew they couldn't spend much time resting.

"Yes, I think so," he replied, "I think…I'm not sure…I think your friend is this way too. But…" He trailed off, looking uncertain, and Penny cast him a confused, somewhat alarmed gaze. "Well…I didn't ask to be to be part of the actual rescue mission! I was just supposed to show you were it is. You didn't tell me that there'd be dozens of these Zoners! Look, I've shown you the right tunnel, so you can just-"

"We can't go back _there_," Rudy whispered, glancing toward the place they'd come. "There are guards all over there. And the only other way out is…" He didn't bother to finish his sentence, instead gesturing toward the large hole in the ceiling on the other side of the tunnel, and then the enemy Zoners that were gathered beneath it.

"But couldn't you just-"

"We can't risk that!" Rudy protested, shaking his head. He did, however, understand that the mouse was right about the danger. "I'll….maybe I can draw you a hiding place."

"Couldn't you just draw a machine and drill our way out of here?" Lester retorted.

"Not without attracting the attention of everyone down here," Penny interjected. "Everyone underground in these tunnels would feel it if we started tunneling through the walls. I think Rudy's right about-"

She broke off as they could hear angry shouting from the Zoners around the collapse, and each of them simultaneously feared that they had somehow discovered that it hadn't been an accident. Rudy froze as he heard one shout, quite clearly, "Get to work! Shift will hear about this!"

"Shift…" he whispered, his eyes widening. He found the clear revelation far more alarming than surprising.

"On second thought…I'll stick with you," Lester squeaked, jumping from Penny's shoulder to Rudy's and crouching down, flattening his large ears to his head.

"Don't worry," Rudy whispered. "I'll make sure you're all right. We'll find another way to escape, but first we have to find my friend. We wasted too much time here already." He cast another glance at the confused enemy Zoners, who seemed to be trying to clear away the rubble at the top of the heap to allow entrance into the blocked tunnel. He then hurried off into the darkness of the side path Lester had pointed out, Penny at his side.

The tunnel seemed empty, but knowing that they could run into an enemy at any turn, Rudy quickly doodled a large coat designed to camouflage them with a sort of invisibility power. He was unsure how well something so hastily designed would work, but he knew they couldn't afford to stop and wait around to give him time to draw better ones. Deciding that he and Penny could both put it around them rather than waste time drawing a second, the two of them huddled together underneath the coat, keeping alert for any sounds of approaching enemies as they pelted through the darkness.

They soon came to a fork in the tunnel, and Lester pointed out a direction, though it took him a moment to be sure. Rudy had no idea where Snap would be or for what purpose he would have been captured there, but he only hoped he wouldn't be too late to help him.

A light from a small side tunnel he hadn't seen at first caught his attention, and before he could register that it had been a light from a vehicle, he heard a voice shout in his direction. Frightened, he realized that the cloaking device he'd drawn hadn't worked well at all; looking down at his hands; he could certainly still see himself, though the image looked fainter. It was an eerie feeling, but one he didn't dwell on as he and Penny sprinted harder down the tunnel, hearing the rev of the engine as the makeshift car behind them picked up speed and turned into the tunnel. Throwing the coat to the ground, as it would only slow them, Rudy and Penny ignited the rockets on their shoes and fled deeper into the tunnel.

"How did no one notice that any of this was down here beneath the city?" Lester hissed as he turned to face the car.

Though Rudy didn't bother with an answer, he did have to wonder how long the last remaining destroyed part of the city had been left alone. He supposed it was better that it had been left unchecked rather than some random Zoner investigating and getting attacked by the Zoners lurking underground. Stopping for a moment, Rudy quickly drew a small wall between them and the vehicle, which could not slow down in time and had to swerve to avoid it as Rudy darted away.

"Rudy, forget it!" Penny shouted, and Rudy shifted his attention to her and hurried to catch up.

"Wait, go that way!" Lester shouted, gripping Rudy's sleeve with one paw and extending his other to point toward another side path. "That's the way that-"

Rudy heard a screech behind him and whirled around, a blinding light filling his vision as the small car managed to swerve toward them. The tunnel ceiling was lower here, so instead of flying further upward, Rudy dove to the side, feeling a rush of air as the machine passed him. He landed roughly on the ground, hearing a high-pitched squeak as Lester was dislodged from his shoulder. Reaching out, Rudy grabbed the mouse in his hand, ignoring the tiny Zoner's protests as he whirled around, unable to catch sight of Penny. The blinding light from the car through the night vision goggles left him unable to make anything out, and in frustration he tore the goggles from his head.

"Rudy!"

A voice to his left made him turn his head in that direction, and he felt Penny grab his wrist and pull him toward what he realized was the tunnel Lester had pointed out. He dropped the goggles in surprise as he was moved through the air toward it, and risked a glance back at the car. It seemed to be having trouble moving, and after a moment he realized that it had accidentally swerved into a pile of discarded rocks near the tunnel wall, and its back wheels were trapped.

He and Penny shot into the darkness, and just as Rudy was beginning to feel relieved, lights flickered on overhead along the tunnel walls and ceiling. These, however, were clearly not intended for lighting purposes, as each was a dull, flickering red. He caught sight of what was clearly a camera positioned on the tunnel wall near the ceiling, and jolted in surprise as it swiveled toward them.

"Looks like Shift's security features are operating correctly now," Penny whispered in a panic, and Rudy wasn't sure if his disabling of the first sensor had caused some sort of problem with Shift's security, or if they were simply heading into a more important and well-guarded area. "Rudy, you need to draw something to-"

Her sentence went unfinished, as Rudy had skidded to a stop; the mouse still held in his hand had clearly found something. He was pointing toward a tunnel Rudy hadn't even noticed during their mad dash, as its entrance had been concealed by an uneven part of the rock wall, and was only visible head-on. The red flickering lights that Rudy knew were signaling some sort of alarm showed them clearly that it had been fitted with a gigantic mechanical door that looked to be composed of scrap, but nonetheless built into a strong and impassible barrier.

Well, one that would have been impassable without the magic chalk. Without hesitation, Rudy darted toward the door and drew an opening big enough for them to easily fit through, and, hearing the sounds of approaching vehicles, sounding as if they were coming from many tunnels at once, rushed inside. Penny followed, and Rudy quickly re-traced his opening, sealing the hole with a block of metal.

"Draw something to hold the door!" Lester cried, his voice rising to a panicked screech.

Thinking quickly, Rudy sketched a simple blowtorch, using it and the rockets on his shoes to seal the doors shut from top to bottom. "That should hold them for at least a while…" He paused, turning around to view the tunnel they found themselves in clearly for the first time. To his surprise, there were no flashing red lights here, and the passage led on ahead for a short while before opening up into an area the size of a large room. There was enough lighting to make up for Rudy's lack of night vision goggles, and he noticed Penny taking hers off, as the bright lights, although small, would only make wearing them distracting. As Rudy and Penny slowly crept forward, aware that there could be enemies in the room ahead, they noticed that there were other, smaller tunnels separating from the more open area, which they could see was housing strange equipment. Rudy had no idea what it was for, but he didn't have long to wonder before something else caught his attention.

It was _Snap_. Rudy gasped in surprise, all else forgotten as he focused solely on Snap's silhouette, which rested in a chair by a group of devices emitting small lights. His back was to them, and Rudy could not tell if he had been harmed in any way. His initial reaction was concern; although he could not see how Snap had been treated, he feared the worse even before he could get close enough to properly analyze him. His breath pumped frantically in and out of his mouth, as he was already worn from running; he tried to gather himself as he kept his eyes fixed on his friend, determined to make his rescue mission worthwhile.

Rudy wanted nothing more than to run to his friend, but common sense told him that he couldn't let his guard down. He frantically scanned the area, but it seemed clear of all enemies. The tunnels, however, posed another threat, though he could see nothing in any of them either. He noticed Penny examining footprints in the dust, remarking worriedly in a whisper that they were recent, but there were no current occupants. Rudy could only conclude that, somehow, they had been lucky enough to find the room abandoned, and for one reason or another, most obviously the frantic search for intruders or the recent collapse, they must have left.

Realizing that the door might not hold for long, and that they had limited time to free Snap and try to figure out a way to get to the surface without alerting their enemies, Rudy and Penny moved toward the more open tunnel ahead, taking heed to be quiet. Rudy placed Lester back on his shoulder as he gripped his piece of chalk in his hand, grabbing another one from his pocket for Penny and handing it to her.

They reached the open area and hurriedly glanced around, again seeing no sign of anyone, before moving closer to Snap's chair. At that moment, Snap's head jerked upright, but he seemed unable to turn around to look at them, his body immobilized in front of what Rudy could now see were cameras. "Snap…" Rudy whispered, checking once again that there was no one around, "we're-"

However, Snap's voice in response was completely panicked. "_Rudy, get outta here!_"

Before Rudy could even try to make sense of what would prompt such a terrified response from his friend, he heard the sound of something moving, coming from _above_ him.

His gaze shot upward, and beside him, so did Penny's, but though the ceiling was faintly visible, the two could see nothing there. However, the sound of something moving in a way that made their skin crawl, and Rudy heard Penny shriek and pull him back as something thudded to the ground in front of him.

Rudy could only stare in bewilderment as he realized that he could not see whatever had fallen from the ceiling. He was looking at complete emptiness, nothing but a small cloud of dust to indicate anything amiss, but there was clearly _something_ there. The fact that he was facing an invisible and unidentifiable enemy sent fear racing through his entire body, and he found himself zipping back toward the wall, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Penny had done the same thing. He could feel Lester's claws digging into his shoulder, but the pain was something that hardly registered to him.

He felt his back hit the wall, and heard the sound of the invisible creature racing toward him. He darted to the side, igniting the rockets on his shoes again. The light from the flames illuminated nothing, however, and he assumed the creature had some sort of cloaking device of its own.

Something slammed into him from a completely different direction from where he thought he'd heard the movement, and Rudy was taken by complete surprise as his back slammed into the floor. He reached his hand up and felt it strike something cold and metal, but the edge was sharp and he cried out as it cut into his palm. He ignited the rocket shoes again in a panic, unable to stand up in time before he was sent skidding across the floor. He came to an abrupt halt when he slammed into a pile of dirt and debris on the other side of the room near a tunnel exit. He could hear the invisible creature approaching again, but before he could do anything to react, he felt cold steel grip him by the throat and haul him upright, thankfully not cutting into his skin. He heard a squeak from his shoulder as Lester scurried from his perch and into his pocket; Rudy was briefly surprised that he'd been able to hold on during the attack. Rudy stared up into the empty space he knew held his unseen captor, unable to use his chalk as his hands gripped the invisible metal, trying to loosen its hold. He heard Snap shout something from where he was trapped, but couldn't make out his words.

Instead of further attacking Rudy, his adversary pulled him to the left, as if it was turning its body to look at something else. At this, Rudy noticed that Penny was standing several feet from him, using her chalk to try to complete a device Rudy could not make sense of from his current position. She froze as she sensed that the creature had noticed her, but determinedly tried to keep drawing.

Her efforts were short lived as she too was yanked into the air and suspended by her arm, held up by an invisible force just as Rudy was. He gasped in shock, struggling hopelessly, not having realized that there were _more than one_ of the invisible enemies. His frantic thought process was then interrupted by a grating voice, coming from somewhere above his head.

"You're the artist aren't you?" the voice stated, though it sounded fuzzy and unclear, as if it was coming through a bad signal. It was strangely _loud_ however, and made Rudy want to cringe and cover his ears. "The creator?"

Rudy then realized that the being was not yet about to attack him, and he could only imagine that it was studying him in some way, probably realizing, he thought, that his magic chalk could be useful. He knew that he was lucky he could still breathe properly if he pulled on the metal enough to move it a bit further from his throat. Thoughts raced through his head as he tried to think of something he could do or say to give him an advantage over this adversary long enough to get to Snap and find an escape route. He imagined that Penny was thinking the same.

"You could give me what I'd need, couldn't you?" the jarring voice continued, and Rudy's body was forced upward, toward where he imagined the creature's eyes would be. "Then again…" it began, and though it portrayed no emotion, Rudy knew that the robotic Zoner must have seen the reluctance and desperation for an escape in his eyes. "…It would probably be wiser to just kill you." At this, Rudy began to struggle in a panic, and he could make out Snap's pleading voice in the background. Though he tried to kick at the being holding him, a feat he knew in the back of his mind was useless, his legs only met empty air.

"No, wait!" Penny shouted, and Rudy only faintly heard her as she tried to plead with the creature, who still seemed in a state of hesitation. He gripped the metal holding his neck harder, his struggles growing increasingly frantic. He could feel blood from his hand seeping onto the chalk metal holding him, but the creature had no reaction; he wasn't sure whether the mechanical parts of its body could feel pain or if it was simply ignoring it. He realized with increasing terror that a small amount of blood was not enough to dissolve through whatever served as the drawing's hands. Suddenly he heard Penny screech, and with a burst of strength he hadn't thought he had, Rudy lifted his legs upward as if to kick the Zoner holding him captive, aiming higher than he had before. He ignited the rockets on his shoes once again, thrusting his feet against where he guessed the creature's body was.

Rudy felt his feet strike something hard and a shower of sparks began to appear from what looked like thin air as the rockets seared the enemy. The creature's grip on him loosened as it jerked backward, dragging Rudy through the air with it, but its arm didn't seem to be long enough to keep the boy far enough away from its body without releasing him. Rudy kicked out with his feet again, trying to steady himself as the Zoner tightened the pressure around his neck.

However, he realized that his flames had to have struck a vulnerable part of the Zoner's body, as he was swiftly released, thudding painfully to the rocky floor. He coughed, trying to steady himself as he struggled to his feet, and realized, with a horrifying suddenness, that he could now see the creature that had been attacking him.

It was not two separate beings, as he had first thought, but one creature. Its body was darkly colored, and he realized that the only reason he was able to see it with any clarity was due to the lights from the machines in the room reflecting off its metallic features.

It looked, as Rudy could now plainly see, like a gigantic centipede. Its artist had certainly put a lot of thought and effort into its design; nearly every part of its body looked absolutely lethal. Its eyes glowed an eerie yellow, and its segmented body was lined with at least two dozen legs, and as the portion of its body raised above the ground turned toward him, he could see a panel on the creature's upper body where his damage had been done. Rather than harming the Zoner, however, it only seemed to have impaired the cloaking device and made the creature visible again. Staring at it, Rudy couldn't help but to vaguely wonder if that had been an original aspect of the centipede's design or something it had modified itself with. The panel he'd damaged didn't quite fit seamlessly into the centipede's design, despite the rest of the creature looking thoroughly thought out.

He could also see that sometime during his brief struggle, Penny had managed to escape, or had been released. His frightened gaze momentarily shot to her to check that she was alright before the monster lunged toward him at a speed he wouldn't have guessed it had. Using the still active rockets, he zipped to the other side of the room, ducking away from the wall as the creature darted along it, its legs working rapidly in unison. Rudy quickly found himself on the side of the room where the cameras were set up, suddenly realizing that he had nearly come face to face with Snap. He had made a stop at a dead end between the chair his friend was tied to and the back wall with the cameras.

He couldn't see where Penny was, and had no time to look for her as he scanned the room for his enemy, hearing the metallic clicking and a hiss of steam, but unable to pinpoint exactly where it came from. Even without its invisibility, the centipede's dark coloring hid it from view in the gloom; even the light from its eyes had gone out. Wanting to lead the beast away from Snap, he readied himself to dart around the chair, but didn't get far. Before he could even position himself in a way that would allow him to use the rocket shoes to dart in his chosen direction, the mechanical monster appeared from above him, some part of it striking into him and knocking him to the floor.

**ooo**

"I have already found Shift's location," Axxar spoke into his modified communication device as he stood in a secluded section of ChalkZone City, ignoring the current chaos that was rampant all around him. Shift's new message to the city had clearly frightened its inhabitants, as the live feed from his tunnels had made it clear what Shift intended to do. Axxar had watched the video briefly when it had come on just minutes before, and he had known immediately that Shift didn't intend to use Snap as a bargaining tool; he was sending quite a different message. However, he had not needed Shift's video to determine where the city's new adversary lurked. That part he had discovered earlier.

"And his portal?"

"Working on it," the wolf replied, casting an annoyed glance at some shouting Zoners across the street from where he stood.

"What's going on there?" the voice then spoke up, directing Axxar's attention back to the device. "Is something-"

"Shift has made a plan to kill one of Rudy's friends to send a message to the city," Axxar replied, giving the nearest television screen, which rested in a shop window, another glance. "Apparently there's a bit of a panic about it at the moment."

"Is this of any concern to us?"

"No," Axxar replied. "Once the panic dies down and Shift is less wary about any potential searches of his hideout, I will again search for the portal."

"Do you have an idea of where it might be?" the voice on the other end asked.

"I don't think it will be hard to find out," the grey wolf replied, his eyes darting once again to some of the panicked Zoners on the other side of the street. "Several are looking at this very moment, and I'm waiting until all this blows over to investigate the hideout again." He paused, and remarked in amusement, "I wonder if Shift's realized that much of his security no longer operates." Afterward, his expression returned to a faint scowl. "I'm only…intensely irritated that he chose this moment to cause such a scene. I'd still be down in those tunnels otherwise."

"Why exactly _is_ he doing this?"

"Because he is an attention-starved imbecile with such poor planning and thinking skills that he needs to beg for supplies from the city," Axxar replied in a flat tone. His yellow eyes narrowed as he watched the group of nearby Zoners with a flicker of something close to amusement. Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught a flicker of movement from one of the television screens. _Something_ was happening. Turning his head, he expected to see Shift, come to give the city his message, or even begin the actual execution. Yet he hadn't counted on seeing what actually faced him as he looked at the screen.

The flash of movement he'd seen was not the mechanical centipede monster that he'd discovered was Shift's identity, but a young child. A child that, even when facing his back to the camera, was immediately recognizable. The child made a move to flee, only for Shift to strike him from above, moving him out of view of the camera. Axxar's eyes widened as he gripped the communication device, ignoring the perplexed words of the Zoner on the other end as his mouth opened in disbelief.

"What happened?" the voice cried, obviously sensing the sudden change that had come over Axxar.

"_Not now!_" he hissed, his voice rising to an uncharacteristic worried state as he took off down the street as fast as he could run.

**ooo**

Rudy felt the breath driven from him as he was slammed against the ground by two of the creature's forelegs, finding himself staring up into the glassy surface of its eyes, which were now dimmed and colorless. He fought to free himself, but even with his rockets on full power, he could not escape the creature's grip. He could hear both Snap and Penny shouting, but could see neither of them.

Suddenly the weight was lifted from him, and Rudy sputtered for a moment, feeling too weak to move as he tried to make sense of what had happened. The centipede's head was out of sight, as it had coiled around toward something behind it. Rudy's first thought was Penny, but as he scanned the darkness frantically for her, he realized that, in some way or another, she had managed to trap the creature, as it seemed unable to either move forward or turn back around. Stumbling to his feet, he avoided the thrashing body, rushing toward the chair Snap was strapped to and quickly drawing holes in the shackles so that he could remove them. As soon as Snap was freed, Rudy gripped his left arm and pulled him upright, remembering a second too late that Snap couldn't stand properly due to his injured leg. As his friend stumbled, Rudy heard Penny scream and looked over his shoulder to see that the robotic centipede had broken free of whatever trap Penny had laid from him, and in an instant had crossed to her side of the room.

Rudy released Snap and used his rockets to dart in Penny's direction, hating the fact that he had to leave Snap behind, but knowing that he had no choice. He darted toward Shift as Penny fled in a different direction, only to be stopped as the mechanical creature whirled around, knocking him into the wall and pinning him there with two of his legs. Ignoring him, the centipede turned to Penny, stopping for a moment to pick up something on the ground. As Rudy glanced toward it, he realized that it was her piece of chalk.

"I don't think you need this," the distorted voice sounded from the creature's head before it crushed the piece of chalk in its metallic hands. "Stupid girl…you are no creator."

Penny stood frozen in place, torn between her instincts which were screaming at her to flee and her reluctance to leave Rudy in such a helpless position. The latter won out, and she held her ground. Rudy could see that she was frantically trying to think of something, and he realized that likely the only reason the two of them were still alive was that some part of Shift feared he would be destroying something that could be useful to him if he killed them.

Rudy tried to lift his feet toward the centipede's body or legs, wondering if the fire trick would work a second time, but he was only slammed against the wall harder, winding him and leaving him gasping for breath. Penny remained where she was, clearly at a loss for what to do as she stood in a panicked silence, afraid that any movement would prompt the monster to harm Rudy.

The frantic sound of banging on the metal door they had entered through earlier distracted both of them briefly as it was brought to their attention that reinforcements were just outside. One of the machines in the room they were standing in flickered to life, and a message began playing, one that Rudy paid no attention to, until he caught the word 'Shift.' It then set in, as he looked at the claws holding him in place, that Shift was likely the very same creature currently threatening them. They had walked into a danger far bigger than they had realized, having known so little about him.

With Shift's gaze on Penny, Rudy knew he had an opportunity to escape, but in his current position he could not use his chalk, as his right arm was pinned, and he could clearly see that struggling would be useless. After his initial struggle, Shift had positioned the sharp edges of his legs toward Rudy; he could feel it digging a shallow cut into his arm, and knew that any movement at all could result in a nasty injury.

Suddenly he felt something stir in his pocket, and Lester appeared. He climbed out of his temporary hiding place, and Rudy first assumed that he was making a run for it. Instead, he clambered up Rudy's side and onto his shoulder where he, to Rudy's great surprise, leaped onto Shift's leg and began to scramble up it. Rudy could barely begin to wonder what he was doing as the mouse darted up the metal toward where the first leg joint was. Shift had no reaction, and Rudy wondered if he could feel it at all. His questions as to Lester's motives were soon answered as the mouse positioned himself near the joint, and, avoiding the sharp metal, leaned his head down toward what Rudy realized was a small exposed part of a bundle of wires. The gap was so small that Rudy would not have otherwise noticed it, but the mouse's snout fit through, and no sooner had he heard the snap of his jaws than Shift's grip on him loosened his leg fell away from the wall.

Shift whirled around, and Rudy caught Lester as he fell, swerving to avoid a swipe from several separate sets of claws as his rockets ignited and he jetted toward Penny. As Shift followed, both were forced to flee back to the section of the room where Snap was crouching, realizing too late that there was no easy way to get around Shift and to the other tunnels from that space.

Hovering in front of his friends as Penny helped Snap to his feet, Rudy realized that now, he was the only one wielding the chalk. He faced the approaching enemy as Shift closed the space between them at a frightening speed, managing to release Lester and raise his drawing arm just before the mechanical monster struck.


End file.
